18 years at Red Bull, but key figure Wheatley had no doubts about leaving

12:50, 06 Jul

Updated: 12:51, 06 Jul

Co-author:Kada Sárközi

byLudo van Denderen

Jonathan Wheatley experienced great successes with Red Bull Racing, something his current team Sauber (the future Audi) can only dream of for now. However, the Briton has no regrets about moving to the now Swiss team. After fourteen seasons at Red Bull, he did not hesitate for a moment to leave.

Wheatley was the sporting director of Red Bull over the last seasons, and spent in total 18 years with the team. The Briton was widely seen as the logical successor to team principal Christian Horner, should he decide to leave at any point. But Wheatley did not wait for that moment. When Audi - now the full owners of Sauber - approached him, he knew immediately it was time to go.

"Honestly, the offer here made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and I almost didn't give it a second thought," he told Mirror Sport.

"I really didn't have anything like the dilemma that I'd had before. I checked that Emma, my wife, was okay to relocate and that's it. And now I'm sat here as a Swiss resident."

Wheatley one of the departing key figures from Red Bull

Over the recent seasons, Wheatley wasn't the only departure at Red Bull. Others, including Rob Marshall and Adrian Newey, also decided to leave the Austrian squad.

This happened for various reasons, with Newey known to have had difficulties with Horner - who is involved in a case of alleged transgressive behaviour, in which the female employee has gone to the UK Employment Tribunal.