{"id":837044,"date":"2026-03-19T21:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837044\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:59:19","slug":"adrian-newey-to-step-down-as-aston-martin-f1-team-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837044\/","title":{"rendered":"Adrian Newey to step down as Aston Martin F1 team principal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Adrian Newey is set to step down from his team principal position at the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, where he\u2019ll be replaced by current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/audi\/49022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Audi<\/a> team boss Jonathan Wheatley.<\/p>\n<p>Motorsport understands Newey will step down in order to focus exclusively on technical matters, as Aston Martin has experienced a more than underwhelming start to the 2026 F1 season. Power unit trouble with new partner Honda means the Newey-designed AMR26 currently can\u2019t complete a whole race.<\/p>\n<p>Read Also:<\/p>\n<p>Wheatley has been working at Audi since last May alongside CEO Mattia Binotto but will therefore return to England after just 10 months. The timing of the move depends on his Audi contract.<\/p>\n<p>Aston Martin\u2019s Silverstone campus is located just 20 miles away from Red Bull\u2019s F1 headquarters, where Wheatley spent 20 years of his career.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jonathan-wheatley-audi-f1-team.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Wheatley, Audi F1 Team Principal\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Jonathan Wheatley, Audi F1 Team Principal<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Dom Gibbons \/ Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>This opportunity is attractive as Wheatley is set to join at an extremely tricky time for Aston Martin \u2013 it can\u2019t really get any worse. At Audi, enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy, reporting directly to the board, but coexisting with Binotto meant he did not have the same leeway as normally afforded by the team principal role.<\/p>\n<p>Wheatley may have been endorsed \u2013 if not suggested to owner Lawrence Stroll \u2013 by Newey himself, as they spent those two decades together at Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Read Also:<\/p>\n<p>Newey\u2019s promotion to the team principal role was announced just four months ago and was effective in 2026 only, so it was short-lived; the current crisis only made it harder.<\/p>\n<p>Now, what will Audi\u2019s strategy be: searching for a new team principal, or restructuring the squad internally and\/or promoting from within?<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adrian Newey is set to step down from his team principal position at the Aston Martin Formula 1&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[239827,971,2182,236353,236824,707,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-837044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adrian-newey-to-step-down-as-aston-martin-f1-team-principal","tag-aston-martin-racing","tag-audi","tag-chinese-gp","tag-f1-chinese-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116258090182395520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}