Timing is everything in Formula One and Jonathan Wheatley reckons he got his right in leaving Red Bull, the team with the most race wins and drivers’ titles this century, to become principal of Sauber.
The Swiss-based team will become the Audi works outfit from next season but were at the bottom of the standings until Nico Hulkenberg’s fifth place in Spain last Sunday raised them two places to eighth.
Sauber have won only once since 1993 – in 2008 when owned by BMW – and there are nagging questions about how competitive the 2026 engine will be, with early reports not encouraging. But Wheatley said they had all the building blocks for success.
“We’re looking at a campus expansion, we’ve got an ambitious program ahead of us and investment from Audi and QIA (Qatar Investment Authority). I’m really, really super-excited about where we’re at,” the Briton told Reuters.
“I do not come to work to make up the numbers. I absolutely believe that we’ll get on that path and we’ll be winning races and world championships.”
Wheatley has decades of experience, now in his 35th year in Formula One after starting as a junior mechanic with Benetton. He joined Red Bull from Renault in 2006 and was sporting director when he left at the end of last season.
With Red Bull he won six constructors’ titles, eight drivers’ titles and 120 grands prix.
He was also instrumental in securing Max Verstappen’s first title in 2021 after a radio conversation with race director Michael Masi triggered a fateful change to the safety car procedure.
The Briton said such experiences had shaped him and would help in his new role, which he started in April.
“The radio transcripts in Abu Dhabi showed the extreme competitive passion from all the teams and I can’t begin to tell you what that feels like on the pitwall in a world championship life or death situation,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people in my position in the sport who are intensely competitive. I’ve absolutely absorbed myself in that (at Red Bull) and I’m absorbing myself here. It really genuinely feels like my team already and I’ve only been here two months.”
Wheatley said the move to principal felt “entirely natural” and, unlike that from Renault to Red Bull, had involved no agonising.
Red Bull had the most dominant season in Formula One history in 2023, winning 21 of 22 races, but were then in the firing line.
Team boss Christian Horner faced allegations, of which he was cleared, of improper conduct towards a female employee. Relations with Verstappen’s father Jos soured and star designer Adrian Newey announced his departure for Aston Martin.
Wheatley, who could have stayed, said his decision was all about future opportunity.
“There was a huge amount of talented people in that team over the whole period I was there. I’ve learned from as many of them as I could… we knitted a team together there and we did something quite extraordinary.
“I absolutely loved that initial stage of transforming a team and then I kind of wanted to do it again… the idea of coming to this team in this transition period at this point in history was enormously attractive to me.”
While former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto heads the Audi project, Wheatley is in charge at the track and plans to attend all the races.
“It’s going to take time, but where we’re starting from is a good place,” he said.
