After just one full season, Jonathan Wheatley has left his role as Team Principal at Audi, with Mattia Binotto currently stepping in to replace Wheatley.

However, this news breaking in between the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix, did not take team personnel inside of Audi by surprise.

Bortoleto stated: "Inside the team, we are very clear with this type of thing. So, it's not something that got me by surprise. I'm not going to lie, it happened very quickly, he joined last year. But again, when you have personal things to put in place, that's the priority."

The Brazilian added: "I think everything happened extremely quickly after China. I don't know exactly the date, but it was somewhere between China and here."

Bortoleto and Wheatley only shared one full racing season together, but the former Team Principal was full of praise for the Brazilian, which was particularly poignant, given that he has worked with star drivers such as Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

Speaking about their professional relationship over 2025-2026, Bortoleto said: "Well, he spoke really good things about me, so I’m grateful for that, and I spent good time with him as well when we were on track, and I learned good things. It’s still in the very early stages as well. It’s the first race we are going to do that he’s out, but I hope the best for him in his future."

The Brazilian concluded, saying: "He was a good team principal within the team. People liked him, he did a very good job in structuring things here, so he was good while it lasted."

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