While Red Bull deals with their executives’ contract extensions, Jonathan Wheatley must think about his future.
Following the confirmation that Adrian Newey will step down as Red Bull’s technical director and is expected to leave the team and F1 in the middle of next season, there is some uncertainty over the long-term of sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.
The former Benetton and Renault mechanic joined Red Bull in 2006 and temporarily rose through the ranks to become the team’s sporting director.
Under his leadership, Red Bull has the benchmark for exemplary pit prevention functionality: the Milton Keynes-based team has made nine of the 10 fastest pit stops so far in F1 2024.
The pit crew’s response times are within Wheatley’s purview, as is making sure the team complies with sporting regulations and other rule books at all times.
But Wheatley’s contract is pending renewal and PlanetF1. com claims he is ultimately negotiating a new deal with Red Bull.
In the space of months, Red Bull has renewed several of its top executives with new long-term contracts.
In December, technical executives Enrico Balbo and Ben Waterhouse signed new contracts, with Balbo as Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics and Waterhouse as head of engineering.
In February, technical director Pierre Wache also re-engaged with Red Bull and ended his move to Ferrari at any time, as rumours had suggested.
But Wheatley has yet to re-sign with Red Bull in hopes of finding a new and bigger role on the grid; interest from other groups would likely also have a positive effect on its monetary price in its negotiations with Red Bull.
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Wheatley would have been linked with a possible replacement of Christian Horner as Red Bull team principal, if Horner had failed to retain the trust of Red Bull shareholders or if evidence justifying his dismissal from his position had been uncovered during the internal investigation into the allegations. regarding his behavior as a team leader.
But, while Horner maintains his position and the confidence of both groups of shareholders, Wheatley is said to have entered into talks with two other groups on the grid, possibly Alpine and Sauber.
Alpine’s Bruno Famin, as vice-chairman of Alpine Motorsport, was initially appointed as a replacement after the team parted ways with Otmar Szafnauer last year, and has retained the role this season. Sauber, technically, has no team boss, with Alessandro Alunni Bravi taking over the “team representative” position and Andreas Seidl being appointed Sauber’s CEO.
With Wheatley hitting a glass ceiling and unable to rise through the ranks at Red Bull, he is expected to leave Milton Keynes to succeed at the top spot of leadership he says he wants.
When asked about the uncertainty over Wheatley’s immediate future, Horner could simply comment on the state of negotiations.
“I want to say there are rumours about everybody,” he said after the Miami Grand Prix.
“So contracts between Americans and their terms and situations are not something that we communicate to the public. “
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