the breakdown
- Audi’s F1 project will be led by Jonathan Wheatley.
- Wheatley is a former mechanic-turned-team boss with championship-winning experience.
- Wheatley grew up in racing and tinkers on his classic Audis and Porsches.
Audi is officially joining the grid for this year's Formula 1 season. But while the German marque is known for its precision engineering, the team won't be led by a squeaky-clean strategist who's afraid of getting his hands dirty.
The Four Rings project will be led by Jonathan Wheatley—a genuine gearhead. Wheatley worked his way up the ladder from the floor of the pit garage. Beginning as a humble junior mechanic in the early 1990s with Benetton, he earned his stripes as he climbed the ranks of the Enstone-based squad.
After winning two constructors' championships with the team and being promoted to chief mechanic, the Buckinghamshire-born Briton moved to the ranks of Red Bull Racing as team manager and sporting director.
While he clearly thrives in one of the most technologically demanding motorsport series, he has a deep obsession with the oily and unsafe world of classic cars. And here's how you know he's really one of us: Group B rally.
Wheatley's Rally Roots
Speaking to Motorsport Week, Wheatley explained why the move to Audi came so naturally after a childhood fuelled by Quattro four-wheel drive.
"Everything I could read about motor racing I took in," he said. "And there was an incredible Audi Group B era, you know? And even before that, just the normal Quattros and just watching those cars in the forest, and then following these monster Trans Am cars that they built.
"If you’re a kid, seeing cars with flames coming out of the exhaust is exactly what you need to motivate you towards motor racing… So I think out of all the opportunities I had to further my career, I mean, I was drawn towards Audi."
'If you’re a kid, seeing cars with flames coming out of the exhaust is exactly what you need to motivate you towards motor racing.'
Leaving Red Bull at the end of 2024, Wheatley joined Sauber as team principal as it was readying itself for its Audi takeover. But as the son of a racing driver himself, he learned the mechanical ropes before he even set foot in a car.
“I was probably doing tire pressures on my dad’s car when I was eight or nine years old," he continued. "Understanding how things work. I was always very good with my hands, working with things. I was taking things apart, building model aircraft, model cars, trying to understand how suspension works."
When he started karting, this knowledge became incredibly valuable. "Nobody else was going to prepare my kart in between races, and my brothers, so I did that. So I kind of grew up working with my hands and loving fixing things. Maybe there’s a sort of thread that runs through. I love fixing things, making things better."
The Dream Garage
While Wheatley currently daily drives an Audi RS6, a car he describes as having "extraordinary" performance, he admits that new machinery is almost too capable.
"It’s easy. You don’t think about driving. You can just drive. And I think also the fact that I can do something to these older cars, to modernise them a little bit, to make the driving experience a little bit better, use a little bit of modern technology here and there..."
That's why his pride and joy is a Porsche 911 built the same month and year he was born (May, 1967).
"[That was] the main reason for me buying it. I work on that car myself. I like to improve it. You know, the wiring… can’t tell you the things that I’ve done to that car to make it better."
Naturally, he also daily drives an Audi Quattro.
"Very low mileage car, beautiful. [I] Love driving that; surprisingly modern car to drive. I’ve just got the winter wheels and tires for that, because I drive my cars, they don’t sit in the garage, and I’ll be driving that to work over the winter as well, on winter tires. I’m looking forward to the first snow. I’m going to get some winter tires for my classic 911 as well, and I’m going to go and enjoy myself at the weekends, driving over the top of these mountains.”
Wheatley is our kind of person. He's someone who thrives on the driving experience and not the performance.
"I like the driving experience, and when you have an intense job, like I do, anything that completely absorbs you and stops you thinking about all of the other things that are going on in your head at any particular time."
Motor1's Take: The Audi F1 team is in good hands with Wheatley at the helm. A genuine car nut and an experienced motorsports expert, Wheatley's knowledge could help Audi make a serious impact in F1 in its first season.
