Nico Hulkenberg: My mother’s shock text message revealed Jonathan Wheatley Audi exit

Nico Hulkenberg was hard at work in the sim when a text message from his mother alerted him to the fact that his boss had departed Audi.

Last week, Audi confirmed that Jonathan Wheatley would step down from his role as team principal as the British engineer leaves the organisation after a year in Switzerland.

Nico Hulkenberg reveals mother’s message on Jonathan Wheatley Audi exit

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Wheatley had joined the former Sauber team almost exactly a year ago, with Japan being his first race in charge of the Hinwil-based squad.

But that journey of overseeing the team’s transformation into Audi has come to an end just two races following the takeover by the German manufacturer, with confirmation coming from the team last Friday, citing personal reasons for his exit.

This was after PlanetF1.com revealed on Wednesday that Wheatley had been approached by Aston Martin’s current team boss Adrian Newey to take over the role, although it appears no firm agreement has yet been reached between the two sides.

With Wheatley suddenly exiting Audi as things appeared to have started well for the team this year, both race drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto spoke about their surprise at finding out their boss was suddenly leaving, having had no pre-emptive conversations with senior management.

Indeed, for Hulkenberg, he was busy at work behind the wheel of the team’s sim when he found out… from his mother.

“I found out together with the world. I found out on Thursday, like last week, when it popped out,” Hulkenberg said.

“Actually, I was in the sim that day, and my mom sent me an article while I was looking at my phone. I’m like, ‘Oh, sh*t!'”

The sudden loss of the team boss hasn’t been a major disruption for Audi, given the continuance of Mattia Binotto as leader of the F1 project – several sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that friction between Binotto and Wheatley, as well as personal life considerations, fuelled the Englishman into seeking an exit.

“It’s not a setback,” Hulkenberg said of Wheatley’s departure.

“An F1 team is made of many people. We need strong people but, with Mattia obviously still a leader, it’s not like we’re without leadership, without structure, and without a plan.

“So, whilst it has changed unexpectedly, everything else is on target. Everything else on target is as we planned and intended before.

“So, on the operational side, on a race weekend, I don’t think it’s gonna change too much. Formula 1 teams, and generally Formula 1, are bigger than one person.”

It’s not the first management change Hulkenberg has witnessed during his time at Sauber, having already seen the exit of Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann in 2024 when Binotto was brought on board.

“It’s part of the business,” the veteran said.

“If you look up and down [the grid], every team has that, and there are sometimes these phases. But, if there is a problem, a fundamental problem with one of the central persons or leaders of the team, then you know you have to take action.

“And obviously, here there was a problem. I don’t know the exact details. I haven’t really spoken to him in depth yet, but if there’s an issue, you also need to act and react.

“Otherwise, that’s no good either. Having said all that, focus goes back to racing, to driving tomorrow, and, once this race weekend gets underway, it’s back to business as usual.”

Assessing what he’d seen from Wheatley in his year at the helm, Hulkenberg summed up, “He was very involved, you know, as a team principal, you are very hands-on. He was working. He was busy, I saw that.”

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With Wheatley being a very vocal supporter of Gabriel Bortoleto in his debut year last season, the Brazilian driver wished his now-former boss the best with his next career challenge.

“He spoke very good things about me, so I’m grateful for that!” he laughed.

“I spent good time with him as well when we were on track, and I learned good things. Everything is very early stages as well. It’s the first race we’re going to do that he’s out, but I hope the best for him in his future.

“To be honest, I haven’t talked much with him. Just a little chat after the announcement. As he made it public as well, he couldn’t commit to the project because of personal issues, you know, personal things that obviously I didn’t get into details with him, exactly what it is.

“It’s his problems, whatever it is.

“He was a good team principal inside the tea,m and people liked him. He did a very good job structuring things here. It was good while it lasted.”

Like Hulkenberg, Bortoleto downplayed the impact Wheatley’s departure will have on the day-to-day operations of the team.

“I think inside the team, we’re very clear with these types of things, so it’s not something that got me as a surprise,” he said.

“I’m not gonna lie, it happened very quickly. He joined last year but, again, when you have personal things to put in place, that’s the priority.”

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