Racing
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Audi is set to reshape its Formula 1 leadership again ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, with RacingNews365 reporting Allan McNish is expected to take on a newly created race director role after Jonathan Wheatley’s abrupt March exit left Mattia Binotto covering several senior positions.
The move would give Audi extra support at trackside just three races into its first season as a works F1 team. Wheatley left for “personal reasons” in late March after less than a year in the role, and Binotto then stepped in while already serving as CEO and overseeing Audi’s engine project in Neuburg. During the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, he indicated he would need more help in future, particularly on race weekends.
According to RacingNews365, Audi looked externally before deciding on an internal solution. Sporting director Iñaki Rueda was among the names considered, helped by his long working relationship with Binotto from their time together at Ferrari, where Rueda handled strategy and sporting matters. But sources cited by the outlet say McNish is now the preferred choice.
McNish would arrive with deep Audi ties and broad motorsport experience. The 56-year-old Scot is a three-time Le Mans winner, previously ran Audi’s Formula E team and currently heads the manufacturer’s driver development programme. RacingNews365 reports his responsibilities would include directing race operations, coordinating weekends and taking on a prominent media role, effectively placing a trusted Audi figure at the center of the team’s trackside structure while allowing Binotto to focus more on wider strategic and executive duties.
When approached by RacingNews365, an Audi spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on speculation.”
If confirmed, the appointment would be the latest turn in a leadership picture that has changed repeatedly since Audi announced at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix that it would enter Formula 1 as a factory team with its own powertrain. After the Sauber takeover, the project was first led by Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann, both of whom left in summer 2024. Binotto then arrived as CEO, Wheatley followed as team principal, and has now already gone.
That instability had fueled doubts about Audi’s readiness for its F1 debut, but its opening three races have softened some of that skepticism. The team has scored two points and sits eighth in the constructors’ championship with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, a modest return but one that suggests the project has enough underlying performance to stay in the midfield fight if Audi can steady its management structure and support Binotto more effectively.