‘With immediate effect’, Wheatley’s Audi departure confirmed

Audi have announced that its Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley has left the team “with immediate effect”, amid speculation surrounding his ex-Red Bull colleague Adrian Newey’s position at Aston Martin.

The Hinwil based outfit confirmed Wheatley’s departure in a press release, citing “personal reasons” for the 58-year old leaving the team which he joined only twelve months ago. Being a desire to return home to the UK.

“We are grateful to Jonathan Wheatley for his contribution to the project during the crucial entry phase and wish him all the best for the future,” said Audi AG’s CEO and chairman of the board of management of Audi Motorsport AG, Gernot Döllner.

“Mattia Binotto and the team will continue to pursue the path we have chosen with determination.

“Our focus remains unchanged: we are concentrating all our efforts on building a team competing at the highest level that will challenge for world championships in Formula 1 by 2030.

“We will continuously develop our organisational structures to achieve our shared goal in a sustainable manner.”

Curiously, only 20-or-so minutes after Audi released its confirmation of Wheatley’s exit, there was a statement issued by Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll.

“With the current speculation surrounding Adrian Newey’s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight,” said Stroll.

“As executive chairman and controlling shareholder, I would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder. He is AMR’s managing technical partner, and he and I have a true partnership built on a shared vision of success for the company.

“We do things differently here, and while we don’t currently adopt the traditional Team Principal role that you see elsewhere – it is by design.

“As the most successful engineer ​in the history of the sport, Adrian’s primary focus is on the strategic and technical leadership where he excels. He is supported by a highly skilled senior leadership team to deliver on all aspects of the business, both at the campus and trackside.

“We are regularly approached by senior executives of other teams who wish to join Aston Martin Aramco, but in keeping with our policy, we do not comment on rumour and speculation.”

Aston Martin has endured a catastrophic start to the 2026 Formula 1 season, with their Newey-designed AMR26 powered by Honda having yet to even be classified as a finisher in a race.

An underwhelming Honda power-unit is the root cause of Aston’s woes, with the battery specifically pinpointed.

Should the speculation around Wheatley’s likely destination following his Audi exit be correct, then he would take over Team Principal duties at Silverstone. Relieving Newey to focus on optimising the AMR26.

Binotto meanwhile as Audi’s F1 project leader will be thrust into the day-to-day trackside running of the team as Newey took on four months ago at Aston Martin. Though given the German marque’s statement, it seems likely a bonafide Team Principal will be defined at a later stage.  

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and live blogging F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having live blogged (almost) every grand prix for since 2014 as well as contributing fan articles about F1 and Supercars. He's also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl and (trying to) expertly barbeque.

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