Jonathan Wheatley has not much to say about him and how much he has influenced the Audi F1 project, as he rallies everyone together for everything achieved till now.
It hasn’t been long for either Mattia Binotto or Wheatley to be leading the Audi F1 project. They both joined the outfit when it ran as Sauber and have been at the helm for the transition process. The Italian has spent more time than the Brit, who only started in early of 2025.
Since then he has had success with hefty points scored by Sauber, which includes a podium for Nico Hulkenberg. His first stint as a F1 team principal has started on a good note. The transition to Audi has been smooth as well after fire-up was completed before Christmas in December.
They also had their first shakedown last week which was a milestone for Audi hybrid power unit, which had its first on-track run ahead of the first Barcelona test to kick-start the F1 2026 journey. But Wheatley is not taking any credit for the job well done. He puts up the collective work done by all.
On a personal note, he highlights the extra bit he has had to do as a F1 team principal. “No, I don’t know, I find it very, very hard to talk about myself, maybe because I’m an Englishman and it’s not the most natural thing to stand on a pedestal and talk about,” said Wheatley to media. “What I would say is that this team has made me feel incredibly welcome.
“And when you work in a team, you don’t always have positive days. But if the team’s positive on those days, they drag you along. And if you’re positive on other days, you drag the team along. And between, you support each other through the year. And I’d like to think that I’ve made a contribution here, a positive contribution. But I couldn’t have done it if Mattia hadn’t put all this hard work in before I got here.
“I couldn’t do it if the team wasn’t ready to take the next step, push themselves to the next level. And I couldn’t take any credit for anything if there wasn’t this tremendous enthusiasm for the project. So I look back on my year. I survived it. I’ve traveled more than I ever have in my life. I’ve worked harder, I think, than I have in the last 20 years. And I’ve loved every second of it, ups and downs,” summed up Wheatley.
Here’s Gabriel Bortoleto on going toe-to-toe with Nico Hulkenberg
Here’s first of Audi in F1 2026
