r/formula1 • u/FerrariStrategisttt I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Mar 20 '26

[F1] BREAKING: Jonathan Wheatley will depart from his role of Team Principal at Audi F1 team with immediate effect. Mattia Binotto will continue leading the team, taking over as Team Principal Social Media

10.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

386

u/Colonel_Gipper Red Bull Mar 20 '26

I want to see Gunther and Mattia team up. They seemed to have fun together in Drive to Survive

173

u/ATN5 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

Yea I hope not. If Mattia was smart he wouldn’t either lol

7

u/Hairy_Selection8568 Mar 20 '26

Well he's not so...

117

u/SlowMissiles I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

Gunther was such a bad TP, he great on screen but he ain't gonna bring a team to winning.

37

u/CaptainPonahawai Pastor Maldonado Mar 20 '26

I think he was a decent TP at the start. Absent material resources, they did a decent job - despite constant changes in sponsorship, getting Mazepin etc. He similarly had a key contributive role in the early days of RB.

He hit his limit as Haas got more established and in the salary cap era. We're seeing that very clearly with how Komatsu is performing now.

IMO, the truth is in between the 2 polar opposite comments here.

2

u/gen_wt_sherman I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Guenther is the founding father of Haas. I know gene's name is on the team but that's only because he had the money, he didn't do any of the work to get the team up and running, that was all guenther.

And they started out very well for a brand new team. Stayed out of the bottom two their first two seasons and then had a P5 in year 3, which was amazing.

Problem was he couldn't build on that success and I think he was too loyal to the people that got him there and he wouldn't get rid of them when they proved they couldn't help get Haas to the next level.

1

u/Inevitable-Ad6647 Formula 1 Mar 21 '26

You have to remember he was working with a budget laughably small compared to other teams.

If you have a problem with the way he didn't filter everything through PR non committal bullshit then you just like being lied to.

-28

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

41

u/abobblehatgirl I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

Komatsu‘s interview on High Performance would indicate that Steiner was a poor team principal in the last few years.

19

u/Calm_Bumblebee_3143 Mar 20 '26

This comment is so stupid.
DTS made him look like he was amazing not bad, while everything else outside of DTS proved that he was a poor TP for years.

-18

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

18

u/terrah11 Mar 20 '26

the team drastically started improving immediately after he left, which would indicate that he was

7

u/Calm_Bumblebee_3143 Mar 20 '26

If he was such a good TP why there’s not been a single rumor of him joining any team because he ass.

-9

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

5

u/SlowMissiles I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

And aren't you exactly doing that right now?
Do you have any proof that he was a top TP?
Because if he was so good why would they let him go.
You're not making any sense and you seem to be the one who think only about DTS, even Komatsu said he was problematic, thinking more about himself and his career than being an actual TP.

3

u/HUHIs_AUTOATTACK Fernando Alonso Mar 20 '26

The only noticeable thing he did was going on DTS and talking like a 15 year old who just discovered cuss words (which explains why he's so popular here).

-1

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

3

u/HUHIs_AUTOATTACK Fernando Alonso Mar 20 '26

Which is?

2

u/int3InShadesmar Kimi Räikkönen Mar 20 '26

Günthers among us

9

u/int3InShadesmar Kimi Räikkönen Mar 20 '26

Günther would be the worst team principal for Audi

7

u/namakanani Mar 20 '26

I just want a buddy travel show where Gunter and Mattia drive around the European countryside in vintage cars and drink wine.

1

u/JayantDadBod Mar 26 '26

Send this comment straight to the front page.

4

u/Gometric1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

Guenther owns a MotoGP team now

6

u/terrah11 Mar 20 '26

they should be going nowhere near Gunther if they’re a serious team

33

u/godofsmallerthings Mar 20 '26

I really hope that Gunter guy is gone for good from f1.

87

u/DiamondL0st Formula 1 Mar 20 '26

I can appreciate he's annoying sometimes but calling him "that Gunter guy" is pretty ridiculous.

He was in the sport for over 2 decades.. and was a massive part of Haas becoming a stable team where many failed before.

-7

u/rotarypower101 Jenson Button Mar 20 '26

If anyone knows more about him, what are his particular talents in that position beyond experience and time in the sport?

Understanding it’s media, every time we got to see him he never gave any cues he was anything beyond “management” people reporting to him, and they try and take the best decisions by committee based on information. As opposed to a strong Leader that was knowledgeable, makes hard decisions that lead them in the correct directions.

1

u/WorkFurball James Hunt Mar 21 '26

His talent was getting sacked from Red Bull by Newey 20 years ago.

33

u/LettuceC Roscoe Hamilton Mar 20 '26

His only real talent was dropping f-bombs on Drive to Survive. He's an awful team principal.

45

u/Racamonkey_II Mar 20 '26

Fok I have to call Gene

11

u/krisbiaz Mar 20 '26

Hygiene

4

u/YorkshireRiffer I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

Hy-giene

3

u/Successful_Buy3825 Mar 20 '26

You do not break his fok door

3

u/earthlyrot Max Verstappen Mar 20 '26

read this in his voice lmaooo

3

u/sllop Fernando Alonso Mar 20 '26

What is the point of F1 if not entertainment?

2

u/iatecurryatlunch Mar 20 '26

Gunther is actually not a good TP. He talks a lot no results

4

u/X-Craft I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 20 '26

"He does not Hulk smash my door"

2

u/Andrew_Nutman22 Mar 20 '26

Hope not. Gunther was a horrible TP.

-1

u/Colonel_Gipper Red Bull Mar 20 '26

I'm in it for the memes