Sauber F1 boss Jonathan Wheatley suggests Red Bull made HUGE wrong call

Verstappen, Wheatley, generic, 2023 — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull

F1 boss suggests his former Red Bull team made HUGE wrong call

Jonathan Wheatley left Red Bull in 2024

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 23 April 2025 18:57

Former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has suggested that he would've taken a different approach to how the team dealt with Max Verstappen's penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Wheatley is now Sauber Formula 1 team principal, after leaving Red Bull during the 2024 season.

The Brit departed his role as sporting director at a similar time to Adrian Newey, who also left Red Bull to pursue a new challenge at Aston Martin, as Red Bull suffered an exodus of key team members.

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Wheatley's new role as Sauber team principal comes at an exciting time, as the Hinwil outfit prepare to transition into Audi from the 2026 season onwards, and challenge further up the grid.

Now, the 57-year-old has had his say on an incident at the Saudi Arabian GP, where Red Bull driver Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on lap one of the race around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Verstappen went off-track at turn one and remained ahead of Oscar Piastri, but did not give the position back, prompting race stewards to act.

Following the race, Verstappen was clearly not happy about the stewards' decision, but gave abrupt answers to questions from media, suggesting 'social media' would twist his words.

Now, Wheatley has given his thoughts on the incident, suggesting he may have handled it differently. "Oh, I know what my thoughts were," he told media after the Saudi Arabian GP.

"I mean, I would have done something different, I would have advised to do something differently, I think that was probably the best thing.

"I don’t want anyone commenting on what we would do as a team, I don’t want to comment on what other people would do, but I think in our team, we would have handled it differently, and certainly had a conversation about doing things differently."

Verstappen handed lenient verdict

After the race, the FIA stewards confirmed that mitigating factors meant that Verstappen was given a five-second penalty, rather than the 10 seconds handed out later to Liam Lawson for a similar incident.

Nevertheless, it was enough to see Verstappen's chances of winning the race severely dented, with Piastri going on to claim his third victory of the season and take over the lead of the drivers' championship.

Wheatley compared the battle on lap one of the Saudi Arabian GP to the incident between Verstappen and Lando Norris at the US GP last season, where Norris was handed a five-second penalty.

"It was a little bit the other way around, but it was like Turn 12 in Texas last year," the Brit concluded.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA release official statement on Verstappen penalty as Horner produces evidence

Red Bull Max Verstappen Aston Martin Adrian Newey Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Jonathan Wheatley