Jonathan Wheatley: The Aston Martin boss in waiting and 'the shark with the sharpest teeth'

Wheatley in Audi F1 jacket edited next to Newey in Aston Martin kit with a racing green background — Photo: © IMAGO

Jonathan Wheatley

Jonathan Wheatley: The Aston Martin boss in waiting and 'the shark with the sharpest teeth'

Audi announced the shock exit of team principal Jonathan Wheatley in March 2026

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 1 April 2026 15:27

After just two races into the F1 2026 championship, the newly transformed Audi F1 team, previously known as Sauber, made a shocking team principal announcement.

The man they had trusted to lead the team into a new era had left his role as Audi team principal with immediate effect, with the official statement citing 'personal reasons' as the explanation for his exit.

But what was even more curious about Wheatley's 2026 paddock departure was its timing.

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Rumours had been running rife that Aston Martin had tasked design legend Adrian Newey with finding his own replacement, with the British engineer juggling the role of Managing Technical Partner and team principal for the Silverstone squad.

Just moments after Audi had officially confirmed Wheatley's departure on March 20, 2026, the owner of Aston Martin F1 team Lawrence Stroll released his own statement, providing a rather cryptic response to the rumours that Wheatley was a potential candidate to become Aston Martin's new team principal.

Stroll said: "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," neither confirming nor denying that Newey still technically held the TP role.

But who is Wheatley, and could he really be Aston Martin's next team principal? Let's take a look at his career up until this point.

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Who is Jonathan Wheatley?

Jonathan Wheatley was born on May 7, 1967 in the English market town of Beaconsfield.

He first fell in love with motorsport when attending the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch as a child, previously telling F1.com: "My father knew the chief mechanic at Ferrari, and he lifted me up, I don’t know how old I was, sat me in one of the Ferraris and started the car… I think from that point I was always going to be in F1."

That love for the pinnacle of motorsport never subsided and the Brit landed his first role in F1 in 1991, working as a mechanic for Benetton F1 Team (the Enstone-based outfit now competing as Alpine).

Wheatley cut his teeth in the F1 garage under the watch of Flavio Briatore, staying in the role for seven years before moving up to the position of chief mechanic with Benetton.

Wheatley continued in the lead mechanic role as the team transitioned into Renault ahead of the 2002 campaign, but left the renowned constructors' at the end of the 2005 championship. He then made the surprise switch to the team now owned by a certain energy drinks brand, a pivotal career move that would allow him to truly shine.

Red Bull

Red Bull Racing officially entered F1 in 2005, having purchased Jaguar Racing in 2004, presenting Wheatley with the rare opportunity to help build a new constructor, almost from scratch.

Wheatley slightly stepped away from his roots as a mechanic to become Red Bull's Team Manager, a position he held from February 2006 until October 2018 under the watchful eye of Christian Horner.

He then stepped up to become Sporting Director in 2018, an exciting time to move up within the Red Bull ranks as young talent Max Verstappen was beginning to make a name for himself.

But 2021 is where the team really turned a corner, with Verstappen claiming his maiden drivers' championship in a now infamous last lap battle with Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull then claimed back-to-back constructors' championships in 2022 and 2023, with their star driver achieving four consecutive titles between 2021 and 2024.

The Brit has previously stated that the proudest moment of his career was playing a role in the first Guinness World Record pit stop achieved at Red Bull, telling F1.com: "There’s so many championships and race wins, but I’m a real believer in the power of a team and that’s an example of it."

Wheatley held a major role during Red Bull's prime in F1, but he still wanted more, eventually announcing his shock exit from the Milton Keynes-based squad in 2024 as part of a wave of departures following Newey's Red Bull exit.

At the time, it was reported he had had his eye on Horner's team principal role, although Wheatley has since told media that he never had ambitions to lead a team.

That is at least until he spoke to Audi CEO Gernot Dollner, who he claims changed his mind and helped him decide it was time to leave his 'comfort zone’.

Audi

So, Wheatley took the next step up and joined Sauber in the summer of 2025, ready to lead the squad through their transition into Audi F1 team, set to become the inaugural F1 team principal for the German giants.

In June 2025, he even told F1.com that in five years time, he still wanted to be working on Audi’s F1 project, expressing that he was loving life in Switzerland.

But after the opening two rounds of 2026, it was confirmed that Wheatley would be leaving the role immediately, with Mattia Binotto stepping into the role, at least on a temporary basis.

Rumours quickly spread that Wheatley was tempted by the potential to join Aston Martin with the role allowing him to relocate back to the UK, although no official update has been given on where the Brit could end up in the future.

Next stop, Aston Martin?

If Wheatley is looking to get back into the paddock with one of Audi's rivals, he will likely have to serve a considerable amount of gardening leave to ensure he doesn't share any of the new team's secrets.

But a reunion with former Red Bull colleague Newey would make sense for Wheatley, especially at a time when the design genius is under so much pressure at Aston Martin.

The team's partnership with Honda got off to the worst start imaginable this season, with the two names striking up a works partnership in the hope of giving Newey's new F1 team the best chance of tackling the new power unit regulations.

Even though their Honda PU was nothing but trouble in the opening rounds of 2026, Honda president Koji Watanabe claimed they had only encountered problematic vibrations within the PU when it was paired with the Newey-designed Aston Martin chassis.

Although team boss Stroll suggested they aren't seeking a traditional team principal, if Wheatley was back on the F1 market, his experience would make him an ideal choice to take on Newey’s media duties, allowing him to focus on designing a competitive, race-winning car (something Aston Martin are in serious need of right now).

Wheatley can often be seen as a reserved mild mannered person in the paddock but F1 insider Will Buxton suggests there is another layer to him, saying: “He might give the impression that he’s a dolphin, right? Who likes to swim along and bounce out of the water and headbutt balloons and play up for the crowd? He’s a shark, he has got the sharpest teeth that you have ever seen."

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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