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

Martin Brundle would not be surprised if Jonathan Wheatley has left Audi to join Aston Martin, but it’s not a secret that his “mate” is sharing with him if that is the case.

Last month, just two races into his Audi career after its transition from Sauber, the team announced that Wheatley had vacated his position as team boss.

Jonathan Wheatley Aston Martin move possible, says Martin Brundle

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“Due to personal reasons, Jonathan Wheatley will depart the team with immediate effect. The team thanks Jonathan for his contribution to the project and wishes him the best for his future endeavours,” read the statement.

It came after two days after PlanetF1.com revealed that Adrian Newey, who worked with Wheatley at Red Bull Racing, had been leading a months-long evaluation of the market to find a long-term successor for the team principal role.

Although Newey stepped into the position himself in January, it was only to to bridge the gap between former boss Andy Cowell and the next appointment.

Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll responded to the Newey/Wheatley speculation by saying: “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.”

At no point, though, did he actually rule out signing Wheatley and reuniting him with Newey.

PlanetF1.com understands that Wheatley has been identified by Newey as a primary target to step into the role currently occupied by the legendary car designer, with Newey leading his team’s evaluation of potential candidates to step into the team principal role on a long-term basis.

Brundle reckons the former Audi TP would be a good man for the job.

Asked he believed Wheatley would join the team, Brundle told Sky’s F1 Show: “They’ve had such a revolving door of management at Aston Martin, haven’t they?

“And some curious decisions I think they’ve taken about who does what and who’s in charge. Really curious, frankly, just observing it and knowing, knowing some of the people involved.

“I’m going to assume, yes.

“Jonathan’s a mate, but he doesn’t want to talk at the moment, because I’m sure he can’t.

“So I don’t think he would have abandoned the Audi project and moving the family to Switzerland and all of that lightly, so let’s assume, when they’ve got through the negotiations or the gardening leave or whatever’s involved here, that he will end up at Aston Martin.

“Adrian knows him incredibly well from the Red Bull days, of course, and I think Jonathan’s pragmatism and sort of hands-on approach would glue some things together there. Yes, I think it would be a smart move, clearly.

“It’s not something I picked up on from him at all, but maybe moving back to the UK appeals to him and paying some tax.

“But it’s curious one. I didn’t see that one coming from Jonathan. If I’m honest, although I was told twice in Melbourne that that was going to happen, actually, but up until that point, I hadn’t seen it coming along.

“Jonathan would be a good catch for them, but they need to settle down and just stick with something. They look like a Premier League football team at the moment, just constantly changing who’s in charge, and then you know what happens then.

“Then everybody just runs for cover in the team and keeps their heads down because they don’t know what’s happening next, who they report to, what the strategy is, or whatever that’s any team.

“So it’s, it’s really a difficult situation for them all around.”

As for Aston Martin’s struggles, with the team recording a solitary grand prix finish in three race weekends, Brundle called it “painful”.

Aston Martin has struggled for lap time with its vibrating Honda battery harming not only the car but also the drivers.

“That’s painful, isn’t it? That’s salt in the wounds. It’s a nightmare, whichever way you look at it,” Brundle said.

“They’ve got neither speed nor reliability and in this in the days of relentless from the one championship calendars and cost caps, it’s going to be very difficult to turn that around in the time, and they’ve got to work out what to do first.

“They’ve got to get the right people in, Honda have got to get the right direction.

“It’s not going to improve until 2027. It’s a horror show, and we’re just going to have to observe that pain.

“Of course, they will improve it to an extent. But they’re missing three, four seconds sometimes per lap. I mean, that’s like a different category they’re in at the moment to the front runners.

“So watch this space, but it’ll be a while.”

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