Wheatley would've advised Verstappen differently: 'Remember Austin 2024?'
Jonathan Wheatley in the press conference
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Jonathan Wheatley, former sporting director for Red Bull Racing, would have approached the situation with Max Verstappen after the incident with Oscar Piastri in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix differently.
For incidents like the one Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri starred in at Turn 1, on the first tour of the F1 race in Jeddah, Jonathat Wheatley was the man to turn to at Red Bull Racing, since his knowledge of the rulebook was as vast as it was effective.
In the absence of Wheatley's wisdom, since he is not Sauber's team principal, Red Bull Racing opted to not instruct Verstappen to give the lead back to Piastri, which set the stage for the 5 second time penalty the Dutchman got not long after the incident took place.
Wheatley would have addressed Verstappen decision differently
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After the race, the former Red Bull chief, as quoted by The Race, said he would've approached the aftermath of the incident differently. "Oh I know what my thoughts were! I would have done something different, or advised to do something differently," said the Briton.
"I don't want anyone commenting on what we [Sauber] would do as a team. I don't want to comment on what other people would do, but in our team, we would have handled it differently, and certainly had a conversation about doing something different."
Wheatley the pointed to one of the most controversial moments of last season, starring Verstappen, and another McLaren driver. "It was the other way around, but it was a little bit like Turn 12 in Texas last year. So I think there were some lessons learned from that."
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'Different factors come into play'
Wheatly then gives insight into the depth of the analysis the Stewards effect on a situation as the one that arose between Verstappen and Piastri on Sunday night, mentioning that tyre compounds, DRS availability and so on, often take part in their assessment.
"It's such a dynamic situation and then through all of that and all of the gamesmanship that goes on, you have to pick a braking point."
"There have been situations where I've had conversations with drivers I've worked with, where I've said 'you could have given him another 2cm there and it would've made the stewards' lives a bit easier.'"
"The stewards have to decide if you've left a car's width or what have you. I love that element of the sport and I think the FIA and the drivers have worked really, really hard on the racing rules that we're working to at the moment."
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