Jonathan Wheatley shares his excitement of taking up the F1 team principal role at Sauber – soon to be Audi – as he adds on differences and how he is tackling things.
Having started his work in April, Wheatley has had couple of weeks to immerse himself in the new environment at Hinwil. He has attended couple of races in his team principal capacity as well. He is still in the learning phase after decades of work at Red Bull in managerial role.
But he is enjoying the transformation at Sauber. He has arrived at a time when the F1 team will transform into Audi from 2026 onward. It bodes well since both will work hand in hand in understanding the nuances of the outfit and how it operates, whether at the factory and or at trackside.
Wheatley opens up on the differences he found so work between the two teams in terms of style and operation. He also opened up on culture difference considering that he has worked mostly in Britain and now he has to work in Switzerland and also partly in Germany.
Joining Sauber –
Wheatley: “Well, actually I was just saying to the guys before we came in here, it’s exciting. I’m re-energised. There’s an energy in the company in this transition from Sauber to the Audi Formula 1 project. I feel like I’m in absolutely the right place, to be honest. My family and I, we’ve moved to Switzerland – an amazing country, which I had kind of driven through but never stayed in. Honestly, we’re making a home for ourselves, and I feel very, very at home at Sauber.”
Approaching new role, learning from other bosses –
Wheatley: “For those that don’t know, I started in Formula 1 as a mechanic back in 1991 and forged my own path. I had a decision to make – whether I went down the technical route and became more of a chief engineer-type role, or whether I would go into management. I’m a people person, and it’s the people that excited me. It’s the working in a team and creating a team that excites me. I’ve developed my own techniques for that. Everyone that holds a team principal position seems to do it in a slightly different way, but I think everyone at my level understands what a team involves. I think I’ve learned from everybody that I’ve worked with in this business over the last 34 years.
“I wouldn’t focus particularly on one individual, because there’s a learning exercise in this job every single day. I’ve been open to learning, open to listening, watching how people react. People that you respect, people you’ve worked with for a long time – I worked at the last team for 19 years. I want to be my own team principal. I want to lead the team, along with Mattia, in my own way. I’ve always been pretty sure of my own thoughts and my own views. I have a plan for how we can start this transformation journey and carry the momentum through. And I’ll keep referring to it but it’s about the people – the people in the team. That’s my focus.”
Impressions at Sauber, how to take it forward –
Wheatley: “Honestly, really positive. There’s a great energy in the team. There’s an excitement about the project moving forward. Some of these guys will know what it’s like to be in a smaller team that’s getting bigger. The people there, they look you in the eye. There’s an energy which I’m feeding off. It feels like a really great time to be there. I’m working towards setting my goals and mid-term plan, then looking at long-term planning after that. As I say – two weeks into the job – I’ve spent nearly as much time in the air as I have in the factory, so I’m still listening and learning at the moment.”
Difference from Red Bull –
Wheatley: “I’m about two weeks into the job. I’m trying to use my eyes, ears, and mouth in proportion – which is unusual for me – and I’m just taking on as much information as I can at the moment. I have a plan, and I need to keep referring to that and remember what my views were when I came in. But largely, as I sit here today, I’m just encouraged by the energy and excitement in the organisation. It’s an interesting question [noting how operations is handled] – obviously a question I’ve been asking myself before I joined the team and taking on the learnings from the first race. I arrived a bit later than I would have done normally, didn’t really have time to immerse myself.
“I’ve given myself a target for the first three races – it’s a triple-header – and it’s very interesting to see how a team performs over a triple-header, whether there’s accident damage, how you recover from that, fatigue – you get a really good picture of how a team operates at the end of that period. I’m trying not to jump to any conclusions. I’m using a lot of pen ink at the moment – making notes and trying to put those notes into structure. I’ll say I’m encouraged with the openness and willingness to learn that I’ve experienced in the team so far, and the positive energy. It’s a people business. If you don’t have that creative energy, you’re not going to keep moving forward. That’s our plan – just keep building on these little bits of momentum.”
Culture difference from Britain –
Wheatley: “Well, as you say – it’s simple! It’s part of the challenge, part of the fun and excitement I have around starting this new role at this new team. What I’ve found is, at the moment, I’m not seeing any issues in terms of the language – the language of the team, the way people are getting on. There’s an openness to learning. I’m going to try to learn German – but I don’t want anyone testing me on that in the short term, please. It’s part of the challenge of the role and, as you know, we’re looking to expand our horizons a little bit.
“You’re right – it’s a small team that’s in the transition phase to becoming a fully-fledged works Formula 1 team. There’s a myriad of projects that we need to get right. And one of those is meshing the people together. As a team, we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because change is coming. We have to be at the forefront of that and we need to have a clear road map as to where we’re headed – and I believe we’re on that road map at the moment.”
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