Red Bull say Jonathan Wheatley is to leave his role as sporting director to become Audi’s Formula 1 team principal.
The 57-year-old Briton has been at Red Bull for 18 years and will stay until the end of this season.
He will have a period of ‘gardening leave’ in 2025 before joining the German manufacturer at an unspecified future date.
Audi has taken over the Swiss-based Sauber team and will officially enter F1 with its own car and engine in 2026.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Wheatley’s “contribution to six world constructors’ titles and seven world drivers’ championships, first as team manager and latterly sporting director, will forever be a marker in our team history”.
Wheatley was not quoted in the Red Bull statement, which said that a new structure would be announced at a later date.
Red Bull’s announcment appeared to catch Audi by surprise. An Audi spokesperson was not immediately able to confirm the move. Wheatley was unavailable.
News of Wheatley’s move comes a week after Audi named former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto as chief operating and technical officer, replacing Andrea Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann.
Wheatley became widely known following the controversial 2021 world championship finale in Abu Dhabi, when he successfully lobbied race director Michael Masi to restart the race one lap from the end after a safety car period.
Masi over-rode the rules to do so, ignoring stipulations about restart timing and the handling of lapped cars, and the decision led to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passing Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on the final lap to clinch the world title.
Hamilton had dominated the race up to that point and was on course to beat Verstappen to the championship.
A subsequent inquiry held by governing body the FIA ascribed Masi’s actions to “human error”. The Australian had by that point already left his role with the FIA.
Wheatley is one of the most highly regarded senior operatives in F1. He has won seven drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships with Red Bull.
Before joining the team, he was at the Benetton/Renault team from 1991 to 2006, rising through the ranks to become chief mechanic.
During his time there, the team won two drivers’ titles with Michael Schumacher in 1994-95, and in 2005 with Fernando Alonso, who also won in 2006.
Red Bull under Wheatley’s sporting leadership have become the best-drilled team in the pit lane, regularly leading the charts for fastest pit stops. He has also been instrumental in the sporting committee that oversees the moulding of that side of the regulations.