Red Bull will promote from within its Formula 1 team to replace departing sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.
Wheatley will leave Red Bull at the end of the current campaign after an 18-year stint at the F1 world champions. The 57-year-old will become the Audi F1 team principal in a switch after overhauling its own management structure.
The German car giant has taken over Swiss-based Sauber with a view to producing its own car and engine for the 2026 season but had struggled to make significant progress and lost out on signing its main driver target Carlos Sainz to Williams.
Autosport understands that Audi’s new chief operating and technical officer Mattia Binotto, the former Ferrari team boss, did not have any hand in Wheatley’s appointment.
Sources say Red Bull will look to replace Wheatley from within the organisation, giving the team the chance to freshen up their management structure.
While Christian Horner will remain in control, Wheatley and Adrian Newey’s subsequent departures means that Red Bull will be forced to reorganise its structure and pit wall.
That could see the return of the team manager role, rather than the sporting director title held by Wheatley.
This would be of considerable benefit as Red Bull looks to trim costs to comply with F1’s cost cap.
Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull Racing team manager
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
While Wheatley’s and Newey’s departures will lead to an increase in speculation that Red Bull is in turmoil, another school of thought is that the team is in a state of evolution, with veteran staff making way.
Designer Pierre Wache was offered new terms just days before Newey’s departure was confirmed and it is likely that a new target has been identified for Wheatley’s role.
It was well-known within the paddock that Wheatley harboured aspirations to be a team boss.
At the start of the year he was linked with Horner’s job when the latter was facing an internal investigation.
That had created an uneasiness within the team before Wheatley signed a letter of support, pledging his faith to Horner, who signed him from Benetton in 2006.
Red Bull could now split the position held by Wheatley, possibly by promoting Gianpiero Lambiase, who is already Head of Race Engineering as well as Max Verstappen’s race engineer.
Another senior figure would be responsible for acting as a team manager in negotiations with the FIA.
However, sources say it is unlikely to look for external candidates and sees the departures of high-paid staff simply as evolution.
