Wheatley departs Audi, linked to Aston Martin

Jonathan Wheatley has left his position as Audi Formula One Team Principal after less than a year in the role with immediate effect and is linked to be joining rival team Aston Martin.

Rhonan Colquhoun 1:02pm 21st March 2026

Wheatley, who joined Kick Sauber ahead of Audi's transition for 2026, was a long-term Red Bull employee who had been at the team for just shy of 20 years prior.

SHOCK EXIT: Despite a reported good relationship with Audi, Wheatley departs with a move to relocate back to the UK after moving to Switzerland

Wheatley had held the role of Sporting Director at Red Bull before joining Kick Sauber as their Team Principal and had adapted extremely well to his new position with the team last year enjoying various success as several points finishes and a podium finish for Nico Hulkenberg.

Before Wheatley's announcement, rumours had started swirling about Adrian Newey's position as Team Principal of Aston Martin - a role he opted to take on alongside his duties as Managing Technical Partner.

It was suggested that Wheatley would be a key target for Aston Martin for the role and the fact that Newey and Wheatley have a long-standing relationship with the pair together at Red Bull.

Nothing has been confirmed other than that Wheatley's official reasoning for leaving Audi was for "personal reasons" but it's expected that he'll be on "gardening leave" - unable to work for another team for a period of time - before anything is announced.

"Due to personal reasons, Jonathan Wheatley will depart the team with immediate effect. The team thanks Jonathan for his contribution to the project and wishes him the best for his future endeavours."

With Aston Martin undergoing a horrific start to Formula One's new rules with the team's engine supplier Honda suffering horrible reliability and performance, it's expected than Newey will step back from the Team Principal role to focus on other elements which include improving the team's current situation.

It's been announced over at Audi that the Head of Audi F1 project, Mattia Binotto, will take on Wheatley's responsibilities with news on the team's structure to follow suit.

This will bring a massive upheaval for Audi considering their positive start to the season, especially as a new engine manufacturer, with points already on the board with Gabriel Bortoleto finishing in ninth in Australia.

Technical issues have prevented at least one of their cars from not starting any of the first two races with Hulkenberg failing to start in Australia and Gabriel Bortoleto suffering a different fault in China.