The director of Audi resigned, destined for Aston Martin?

Jonathan Wheatley will leave the rings mark immediately. His name was heard loudly in the last few hours to take the position on millionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team.

It was a frantic 48 hours, with rumors, denials, statements, confirmations… Finally, the loud hum was finally true: Jonathan Whatley is no longer Audi team manager of Formula 1 immediately. The four ring team published a statement making the Englishman’s departure official: “On his way to the head of the grid, the Audi Revolut F1 team will implement significant changes to its senior management structure. For personal reasons, Jonathan Wheatley will leave the team with immediate effect. The team thanks him for his contribution to the project and wishes him the best in his future endeavors. Mattia Binotto, head of the Audi F1 project, will continue to lead the team while taking on additional responsibilities as team director.”

The back room of the exit has several chapters. And you have to travel from Hinwill, Audi’s base in Switzerland, to Silverstone, where the Aston Martin plant is located. Of course, without stopping by Sakura, Japan, where Honda develops its power units. All this salad that unites thousands of kilometers has to do with the German team’s departure from Whatley. The present of millionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team in Formula 1 is disastrous. The AMR26 are almost in another category and even became a danger for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, their drivers, due to the vibrations that come from the Japanese engine and that are transferred to the riders’ extremities through the chassis.

Aston Martin’s situation is critical and to overcome it, behind closed doors they are looking for changes. In others, in the charges. Adrian Newey will serve as team director from the end of 2025, replacing Andy Cowell, who seemed to have a guaranteed exit. YesHowever, after a visit by an Aston Martin delegation to Sakura in which they noticed that the power units would not be competitive, Cowell took on greater relevance, traveled to Japan and began to work directly with the supplier as a direct link to the green team.

Aston Martin’s poor start to the season in Australia and China shook Newey, who decided that the best thing for the team was to stop being director (a position that takes up a lot of his time in day-to-day matters) and dedicate himself entirely to his forte, the technical side. So, the search began for a candidate to fill the director’s position. Newey offered the position to Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s track engineer and Red Bull racing boss, who was grateful, but said he was staying with the Austrian army. Given the refusal, the list was reduced to two candidates: Andreas Seidl (McLaren expopee) and Wheatley.

And the frenzy began. Because Newey went for Wheatley, whom he knows from the very long time they spent together at Red Bull. European media published on Thursday that the Englishman’s departure from Audi was planned and his arrival at Aston Martin was arranged. However, from the millionaire Stroll’s team they said that there was nothing of that and that Newey was still the director. From Audi they became upset by the rumors. Well, a day later Wheatley left Audi.

Wheatley joins Sauber in early 2025 to occupy the position of director of the team that this year became Audi. His relationship with Mattia Binotto, the man in charge of the entire four rings project in F1, had some hiccups. That, added to the fact that the English engineer needed to return to live in England, were key to leaving Audi. Now, confirmation is missing from Aston Martin announcing the arrival of Wheatley, who in any case will have to spend between six months and a year in dry dock due to the prohibition of taking positions in different teams immediately.

Aston Martin came forward and Lawrence Stroll said: “Given the current speculation about Adrian Newey’s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to clarify the situation. As CEO and majority shareholder, I want to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and a significant shareholder.. He is the CTO of AMR, and together we maintain a true collaboration based on a shared vision of the company’s success. We do things differently here, and while we don’t currently adopt the traditional team manager role seen elsewhere, it’s a deliberate decision. As the most successful engineer in the history of the sport, Adrian focuses primarily on strategic and technical leadership, where he excels. It is supported by a highly qualified management team to manage all aspects of the business, both on campus and on the track. We are frequently contacted by executives from other teams asking to join Aston Martin Aramco, but, in accordance with our policy, we do not comment on rumors or speculation.” The Canadian does not confirm Wheatley’s arrival, although he does not deny it either. The statement was left halfway.

Aston Martin arrived in Formula 1 in 2021 after the name change from Racing Point. Since then, Canadian millionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team has had four directors. Otmar Szafnauer arrived from the Racing Point days and was in 2021. In 2022 he was replaced by Mike Krack, who at the end of 2024 was demoted to head of track operations. In 2025 Andy Cowell took over, until the end of the season, when Newey took over.