Sauber Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley has revealed a moment during last year’s Formula 1 season that triggered his eventual exit from Red Bull.
Wheatley was announced as the Swiss squad’s new boss last August and will lead the team into its regeneration next year as the first-ever Audi F1 team.
The 58-year-old had previously been Red Bull’s Sporting Director, but was part of a mass exodus of personnel across 2024, which included Adrian Newey, who moved to Aston Martin.
Wheatley has since been overseeing Sauber’s initial early-season struggles into midfield challengers, recently culminating with Nico Hulkenberg’s first-ever podium at Silverstone.
He revealed that media speculation in the Spring of last year was what helped to prompt his eventual exit.
“I’ll be honest with you, there was an article that came out in Miami last year,” Wheatley told RacingNews365. “I wasn’t happy.
“I had a very, very low media profile at the time, on purpose and then suddenly my name was in all the papers, which created a difficult situation at work.
“But what it did do, there were then a lot of approaches and you start thinking about it [leaving] then, because people are obviously very interested in where you could be.”
“I guess also my mindset there was, I’d signed a lock-in contract and I would honour that from start to finish,” he said.
“I’m not the sort of person who signs a contract and then tries to wheedle my way out of it because there’s a slightly different offer.
“When I commit to a team, I commit to it.
“Sixteen years at Benetton/Renault, 19 years at Red Bull and I have no intention of leaving here [Sauber/Audi] either, so that opened up a lot of conversations with many teams.”
‘Excitement’ of Audi project the deciding factor in Wheatley’s career move
Wheatley is overseeing the transition from Sauber to Audi, which is entailing an extension of its Hinwil base, which the German marque is keeping.
It is also commencing the usage of a new Technology Centre at Bicester Motion, ensuring that the team will have three different locations for its operations.
Wheatley explained that he had talks with different teams about a potential switch, but Audi’s plans for the future were what swayed his eventual decision.
“I didn’t need to leave the UK to further my career, but none of them came close to how exciting the Audi project is,” he explained.
“I still get excited about it now. It’s still a pinch-yourself-moment when you realise that next year there’s going to be a complete transformation. You won’t recognise how different it looks.
“And to be part of that journey again, like I was in my previous one from the very beginning, I can’t tell you how exciting it is. Nothing could have come close.”
READ MORE – How Jonathan Wheatley’s detail-driven approach is leading Sauber F1 revival
Audi are the real wildcard for next year. F1 fans have kind of arrogantly laughed them off. But the fact is, like Aston Martin, they are not wasting massive resources on the current regulations like McLaren clearly are, and Audi don’t race to lose and will not accept losing.