Chandhok says Aston Martin issues go beyond Wheatley team principal links

With Jonathan Wheatley linked to Aston Martin following his shock Audi departure, Karun Chandhok does not believe the role of team principal should be Aston Martin’s primary focus.

Wheatley had been the team principal of Audi, first under its Sauber branding and then through its transition to Audi, for a year before it was announced ahead of this year’s Japanese Grand Prix that he would leave the team with immediate effect.

Karun Chandhok questions Aston Martin team principal focus amid Jonathan Wheatley links

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The sudden departure of Wheatley from Audi last week came as a big surprise as, on the surface at least, the project was working. But just 12 months after joining, he walked away.

PlanetF1.com sources suggest that all was not well as Wheatley and Binotto hadn’t gelled as a duo, and the Swiss-born former Ferrari team boss was a far more astute political player, having a closer relationship with Audi CEO Gernot Döllner.

Almost immediately, Wheatley was linked to Aston Martin, with the former Red Bull stalwart one of several names understood to have been approached by Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey.

Design guru Newey, who took up the team boss role at the beginning of the year, had identified his former Red Bull colleague as his primary target for the job, as he eyes a long-term hierarchy that will allow him to step back into his more desired role as managing technical partner.

But as the 58-year-old walked from Audi, there was no confirmation from Aston Martin that it would be his destination. In fact, Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll released a statement implying nothing would change.

“With the current speculation surrounding Adrian Newey’s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight,” he said.

“As Executive Chairman and Controlling Shareholder, I would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder. He is AMR’s Managing Technical Partner, and he and I have a true partnership built on a shared vision of success for the company.

“We do things differently here, and while we don’t currently adopt the traditional team principal role that you see elsewhere – it is by design.”

For former F1 Chandhok the whole situation is a strange one.

More on Jonathan Wheatley and Adrian Newey

Why Jonathan Wheatley walked away from Audi and where he could land next

Brundle says his ‘mate’ Wheatley could join Aston Martin after leaving Audi

Firstly, Wheatley left Audi without a secure job on the line, and while he is convinced he will be back in the paddock sooner rather than later, any position below team principal would now be a step backwards.

“It sounds like there’s a bit of limbo,” Chandhok told the Sky’s The F1 Show podcast. “There are certainly some rumours around Aston Martin, between China and Japan. It just seemed like an obvious thing because Adrian was filling that role as a somewhat interim position.

“But clearly it’s not a done deal. If it was, it would have been announced.

“I think there’s still a lot of movement going on in where Jonathan lands. What I’m fairly confident is that we haven’t seen the last of Jonathan Wheatley in the paddock.

“He’s an absolute paddock lifer. He’s been there since the early ’90s. He’s not done with Formula 1. So, it won’t be long before he re-emerges, but I think the challenge is, will he now re-emerge and find a position of seniority that he thinks is deserving of his recent past because he’s now been team principal.

“It’s quite hard to take a step down from that, isn’t it? You’ve been in the top job, and there are only 11 of them on the grid. How does that work?”

And then there is Aston Martin, which has struggled in its opening races under its Honda partnership.

The team has completed just one grand prix in six starts all season, with Fernando Alonso P18 at the Japanese GP.

“Honestly though,” said Chandhok, “Aston, they’ve got bigger problems than the team principal as well.

“Disappointing is not the word, is it? It’s just been embarrassing how far off the pace that whole package has been due to the issues from the Honda side, of course.

“I think the team principal is the least of the issues. They need somebody to resolve the technical issue, and I don’t think Jonathan’s necessarily the person for that. They need engine people sitting in Sakura to try and dig them out of this hole.”

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