Audi have confirmed that Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley has departed due to “personal reasons” amid speculation over the future of Aston Martin.
Adrian Newey, the F1 design guru formerly at Red Bull for 20 years, was the source of speculation that he was due to stand down as Aston Martin’s team principal, a role he took on at the start of the year following a £20m-a-year deal signed in 2025.
It followed a report in Autosport on Thursday stated that Newey was set to return to a background role focusing “exclusively on technical matters”.
And now Wheatley looks set to become available for the restructure at Aston Martin, with Mattia Binotto, Head of Audi F1 Project, set to step up and assume additional responsibilities as their new Team Principal.
A statement from Audi read: “As it continues its journey towards the front of the grid, Audi Revolut F1 Team will implement significant changes to its senior management structure.
“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.”
Audi added: “Since joining at the helm of the project in 2024, Mattia has been in charge of the transformation of the team as Audi prepared for and ultimately entered F1 as a chassis and power unit manufacturer.
“The team’s future structure will be fully defined at a later stage, as the organisation continues to adapt to the evolving environment of Formula One. With the unwavering commitment of AUDI AG, Audi Revolut F1 Team will continue progressing towards challenging for championships by 2030.”
Aston insisted that Newey would remain in his current role on Thursday, telling The Independent: “The team will not be engaging in media speculation about its senior leadership team.
“Adrian Newey continues to lead the team as Team Principal and Managing Technical Partner.”
Newey has overseen a dreadful start to the 2026 F1 season, with Aston’s car blighted by issues related to new power unit provider Honda. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have complained about “nerve damage” risk to their hands and feet, such is the level of vibrations felt in the AMR26 car, and the team are yet to score a point after two rounds.
Wheatley, who worked with Newey in his role as sporting director at Red Bull, only joined Audi a year ago, in their former guise as Sauber. Audi refused to comment when approached by The Independent.
Aston team owner Lawrence Stroll had long targeted 2026 as the season his team would compete for race victories and world championships but, instead, the team are languishing right at the bottom of the championship standings and unable to finish grand prix race distances.
Newey cut a forlorn figure at the season-opener in Melbourne, as he detailed the myriad of problems the team face at the start of F1’s new era of engine and chassis regulations.
The 67-year-old divulged that the team could not complete a full race distance and, more worryingly, stated that the violent oscillations of the car were causing harm to the team’s drivers.
“The vibration into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems: mirrors falling off, tail lights falling off, all that sort of thing, which we are having to address,” he said.
“But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted ultimately into the drivers’ fingers. So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he risks permanent nerve damage to his hands.
“Lance is of the opinion that you can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold. We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration.”
Most recently, onboard footage from Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix showed Alonso having to take his hands off the steering wheel were possible, such was the severity of the vibrations.
“It was difficult, we found more vibrations than any other session of the weekend,” Alonso said afterwards.
“Physically, I could not continue much longer. I started to lose the feeling in my hands and feet, it was not a nice feeling.” Stroll retired earlier in the race, due to a “suspected battery issue.”
The next round is the Japanese Grand Prix (27-29 March) at Suzuka, Honda’s home event.
