Audi forced to restart their search for a new team principal as Binotto turns the role down

After a week of rumors about a possible move to Aston Martin, the Briton surprised Audi last Friday by announcing his immediate departure from the team. GPblog explained this week how the remarkable events unfolded and why Wheatley ultimately left.

Following the departure of the popular team boss, who had been instrumental in helping the team under its previous guise, Sauber, improve operationally and in terms of results.

Audi immediately responded by appointing COO and CTO Binotto as Wheatley’s replacement. However, GPblog understands that this is not a permanent appointment, as Binotto ultimately wants to fully refocus on leading the broader Audi F1 project. His usual base of operations is the factory in Hinwil, not the F1 paddock.

No internal timeframe has been set at Audi, so it’s unclear how long Binotto will remain in the team principal role. In any case, the Italian will be in Japan this coming weekend, where he will speak with the international press after the Grand Prix.

It is quite conceivable that Audi will operate with a similar setup to Aston Martin in the near future. There, Adrian Newey is the serving team principal, but Mike Krack is often the public face on the ground — including most media interactions.

At Audi, sporting director Iñaki Rueda seems well-suited to fulfill a similar role. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Spaniard will move up to become team principal, although externally there appears to be only a limited number of options to fulfil the role. Moreover, the person in question would need to relocate to Switzerland — something that ultimately proved a stumbling block for Wheatley, who is now likely to move back to the UK.