Montoya predicts surprise F1 team principal changes with Horner to Audi

Jonathan Wheatley left Audi to allegedly join Aston Martin, but Christian Horner need not worry about his F1 future as Audi “needs somebody like Christian” to get the job done.

That’s the opinion of former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

Christian Horner tipped for Audi role amid Jonathan Wheatley move

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Never mind Formula 1’s driver market, in F1 2026 it is all about the team principals.

And it began last year already.

Long-standing Red Bull team principal Horner was let go from the company, handing the reins over to Laurent Mekies after last year’s British Grand Prix.

The Briton, who led Red Bull to eight Drivers’ and seven Constructors’ titles, entered a period of ‘gardening leave’ with rumours linking him to Alpine and Aston Martin, with part-ownership the key.

Aston Martin, though, may have a different solution in mind – Jonathan Wheatley.

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

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The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, Audi confirmed that former Red Bull stalwart Wheatley would step down from his role as team principal, leaving the organisation after a year in Switzerland.

Wheatley had joined the former Sauber team almost a year ago to the day, Japan marking his first race in charge, but the journey of overseeing the team’s transformation into Audi has come to an end just two races following the takeover by the German manufacturer.

Montoya reckons in Wheatley, Aston Martin has found the right person.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for him [Wheatley] and I think probably one thing that drives him to go there was going back to the UK and living in the UK,” he told talkSPORT.

“I think the change when you’ve been in the UK for so long and you have the family and you have everything to move to Switzerland. Even Switzerland is an amazing place, it’s a different culture and it’s a bit of a shocker.

“So I think if you had the opportunity to go back to work with Honda that you did for the past few years and work with you know a shop that is 20 minutes from where you used to work, I mean it just makes sense.”

But Wheatley to Aston Martin does not mean the F1 door has been closed on Horner.

Instead, Montoya reckons he would be the perfect candidate for the Audi role as he could take a lot of the duties off head of Audi F1’s project Mattia Binotto’s shoulders and do what he did at Red Bull – turn a brand into a championship winning team.

“Mattia has an uphill battle, because I don’t think he wanted to be fully involved,” the former F1 driver said. “I think he wanted to be in the background.

“So I would assume they’re probably looking for somebody to come in and fill that gap.

“They need somebody like Christian to do that. I think people underestimate what Christian’s done and what he did and for how long he did it with Red Bull.

“You might like him, you might hate him, but he could deliver.”

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