The resignation
Last week, after the first rumors about Jonathan Wheatley’s possible immediate resignation from the role of Audi Team Principal, the rumors turned into news as concrete as it was sensational: after only two races in this position, and a year after the same role held in the former Sauber, the English manager has indeed decided to resign for personal reasons, with Mattia Binotto becoming his replacement starting from the Japanese GP.
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The message from mom
A case as strange as it was unexpected that caught even the men belonging to the Audi team by surprise, including the drivers, who had no kind of discussion with the team’s top management to know in time about Wheatley’s departure. The most curious confirmation, in fact, came from Nico Hülkenberg. The German told the media how and when he learned of Wheatley’s resignation, which did not involve any direct contact with the managers: “I found out along with the whole world. I found out on Thursday, last week, when it suddenly popped up – he explained – actually, that day I was in the simulator and my mother sent me an article while I was looking at my phone. I thought: ‘Oh, s***!’”
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News that has therefore caught the 38-year-old off guard, who nevertheless remains confident in the team’s potential even with Mattia Binotto, who until Wheatley’s exit was busy as Head of the Audi F1 project: “It is not a setback – he continued – an F1 team is made up of many people. We need strong people, but with Mattia, who obviously remains a leader, we are not without leadership, without structure or without a plan. So, even if the situation has changed unexpectedly, everything else proceeds regularly as expected and as previously planned. From an operational point of view, during a race weekend, I don’t think much will change. Formula 1 teams, and Formula 1 in general, are bigger than a single person.”
