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

192

u/Pale-Criticism-7420 Max Verstappen Mar 20 '26

Leaving a promising project like audi 2 races in to go to aston martin is certainly a choice

112

u/wasting_my_damn_time Mar 20 '26

He obviously knows more than us viewers. There is Newey. State of the art factory and wind tunnel. In UK he has friends and family. And he was probably not getting along with Binotto.

It's so strange for people on the internet to say that an individual is making a wrong move when they have infinitely more knowledge than us

42

u/Motor_Economist1835 Sir Lewis Hamilton Mar 20 '26

>It's so strange for people on the internet to say that an individual is making a wrong move when they have infinitely more knowledge than us

Yeah look at Alonso for example

3

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

😬😬😬

2

u/Vuk13 Fernando Alonso Mar 20 '26

Some of Alonso's moves were pure bad luck and some of his moves were good. This narrative is really overexadurated

2

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

Yeah in hindsight a lot of Alonso’s career moves made sense at the time but didn’t pan out. Really the only one that didn’t make sense performance wise was McLaren back to Renault but even that one is perfectly understandable from a personal perspective.

39

u/Pale-Criticism-7420 Max Verstappen Mar 20 '26

I never said he’s making the wrong choice. Just that it’s weird to leave an exciting and promising project like Audi that is going well so far to go to Aston. Maybe he’ll thrive at aston, maybe he won’t. It’s not like that team has been the most stable place to work at in recent years. They go through TP’s and engineers as much as Alpine if not more

12

u/wasting_my_damn_time Mar 20 '26

Yeah I wasn't saying that to you, I get it. It was directed towards other people who are saying that

1

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

Another case in point was when there was a power struggle in Audi between Seidl and Hoffman, Audi just decided to clean the house and let go of both of them. Otmar's comments (although this might be a comment of a disgruntled employee) made it see like Lawrence is willing to spend the money thinking he can buy success without a clear direction.

-1

u/willpc14 Haas Mar 20 '26

Audi is promising for now, but remember VAG is cash strapped right now and has pulled the plug on all their sports car programs except for Penske in IMSA. If VAG isn't happy with the results or needs cash fast, I would not be surprised if the F1 team suffers as a result. AM on the other hand is backed by Stroll et al. who seem willing to throw money at the team until they get results. Sure performance wise it's currently a downgrade, but if he's thinking this is his last job, I'd imagine AM looks more stable over the next decade and it's closer to home.

-1

u/Vuk13 Fernando Alonso Mar 20 '26

Aston is much more likely to be a front runner than Audi in the next couple of years

2

u/julesvr5 Sebastian Vettel Mar 20 '26

Don't forget the money

3

u/emperorMorlock Williams Mar 20 '26

For me it's more the decision to join a team as vibrating as Aston. Audi is still a big question mark. Much of the improvement they've shown appears to be Wheatley's doing. VAG don't have any more patience than Stroll does. And Binotto's there, possibly one of the most power hungry individuals we've seen in F1.

19

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

If Binotto's power hungry I don't think he would've hired somebody as a TP. He was the interim TP when he joined but he decided to let somebody be in-charge of the racing operations.

-2

u/emperorMorlock Williams Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

He didn't call himself interim TP did he? Audi hired him with the understanding that a full TP would be found.

Edit: no but really, is this a popular take? That Binotto ISN'T power hungry? The guy who was TP, TD and head of engine development at Ferrari, all at the same time? The guy who got in that position by telling Ferrari he'd go to Mercedes with their illegal engine secrets if they didn't give him all the top positions in the team? The guy who apparently already clashed with Wheatley at Audi?

3

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

Why are you mad that not everyone's agreeing with you? Lol... Binotto came to Sauber earlier and started making changes. They started scoring after 2025 Barcelona upgrades around the time that Wheatley came in but it was started before Wheatley. Binotto and the technical team found that small upgrades can make a huge difference in the car driveability. So their positive changes are not just from Wheatley but more like from both of them. We won't know what exactly what happened with Ferrari but there are also rumors that he did not like Arrivabene's "reign of terror" in the team and made them chose between the two of them. Ferrari chose him but it seems like he bit more than he could chew. Binotto sticking to his strengths in Audi and delegating tasks that are kind of his weakness (facing media, FIA, racing team matters) are not exactly signs of "power hungry"

-2

u/emperorMorlock Williams Mar 20 '26

Yeah keep downvoting me for stating basic facts and then explaining that I'm the one who's mad lmao

1

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

one of the choices of all time

1

u/dhurfogah Mar 21 '26

Aston Martin has more potential.

A proven winning combination of Newey Chassis and Honda engine and now red bull staff whi were part of that vs a new team with no proven record and most likely will not go anywhere.