Why Jonathan Wheatley flagged Audi engine before exit

Jonathan Wheatley declared prior to his Audi F1 exit that no engine manufacturer “wants to lose a month” of development under the FIA’s ADUO scheme in F1 2026.

It came after the former team principal revealed that Audi’s power unit has become an “area of focus” following a “long conversation” with Mattia Binotto.

Jonathan Wheatley: Driveability a weakness of Audi F1 2026 engine

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Audi announced the departure of Wheatley last Friday after less than a year in charge of the Swiss-based team.

It came within 48 hours of PlanetF1.com revealing the news that Wheatley had emerged as Adrian Newey’s prime candidate in the search for a new Aston Martin team principal.

Wheatley’s exit came just five days after he oversaw his final race in charge of Audi at the Chinese Grand Prix.

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Audi has enjoyed a respectable start to its debut season in F1 2026, scoring two points with Gabriel Bortoleto’s ninth-place finish in Australia.

However, the team has suffered reliability issues with Bortoleto and teammate Nico Hulkenberg failing to take the start in Shanghai and Melbourne respectively.

As reported by PlanetF1.com on Monday, Wheatley revealed after the Chinese Grand Prix that Audi sees its power unit as an “area of focus” following a “long conversation” with Binotto, the head of the Audi F1 project who has now assumed the responsibilities of team principal.

Wheatley went on to admit that driveability issues hampered Hulkenberg in wheel-to-wheel battle in Shanghai, potentially as a result of the engine’s deployment.

The FIA launched its ADUO (Assisted Development and Upgrade Opportunities) scheme last year, with the safety net intended to help struggling engine manufacturers catch up under the new F1 2026 rules.

A decision on the first manufacturers to qualify for ADUO will be made after the sixth race of the season, which had originally been expected to take place in Miami in early May.

Following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, however, Monaco will now host the sixth race of 2026 on June 7.

PlanetF1.com revealed last week that discussions are underway about whether to keep the original May checkpoint for the first ADUO qualifiers.

Asked if Audi is likely to meet the criteria for ADUO, Wheatley said that no manufacturer “wants to lose a month” as a result of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cancellations.

He told media in Shanghai: “I’m sure you’re aware that it was supposed to be measured in six-race batches.

“But because of the really unfortunate situation in the Middle East at the moment, we’re not racing there now [and] I don’t think anyone probably wants to lose a month.”

As well as Bortoleto, McLaren suffered a rare double DNS with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in China, with Williams driver Alex Albon also failing to make the start of the race.

Asked if he agrees with the McLaren drivers that the F1 2026 regulations are proving too complicated, Wheatley pointed to the widespread complaints following F1’s move to V6-hybrid engines in 2014.

And he suggested that the upcoming five-week gap between the Japanese and Miami grands prix will help manufacturers address teething troubles with the 2026 cars.

He said: “It’s interesting, isn’t it, that they’re experiencing issues? All of us have experienced our own issues with that.

“Too technical, too complicated? I don’t know. It’s ambitious. It’s an ambitious set of technical regulations.

“It does remind me very much of early 2014. People were struggling with that, some teams in particular were struggling with that.

“I’m trying to keep my eye on the future. I’m an eternally positive person and I think we’ll get on top of these issues.

“And you never know, perhaps this gap in April will allow a lot of people to get on top of that.

“It’s been a very short winter and a very intense few months this year.”

Explaining Hulkenberg’s driveability problem on race day in China, Wheatley remarked that the issue repeatedly compromised the Audi R26 in racing situations at the Turn 6 hairpin, one of the slowest parts of the lap.

He said: “I think it’s a track that exposed our weaknesses in many areas.

“One of the things that was interesting here is that in racing situations, how key driveability is.

“It remains a challenge of us to get on top of these driveability issues, because basically Nico had a couple of situations, at I think Turn 6, where it was hard to recover from them because you’ve got to get the engine back in its operating window.”

Asked if Audi’s poor driveability is related to engine deployment, Wheatley pointed to Binotto’s deeper engine expertise.

He replied: “You’re getting very close to Mattia-type questions and not Jonathan-type questions!

“But look, basically, it’s the response of the PU in those situations when you have to react rather than act, I suppose.”

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