Aston Martin shakeup
Aston Martin’s off‑track turmoil deepened around the Australian GP with engineering legend Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley both implicated in high‑level team moves — their presence in Melbourne signals the project still commands major attention even as setbacks slow progress. (nytimes.com)
Jonathan Wheatley left his role as Audi’s team principal “due to personal reasons” on March 20, 2026, a move that came just two races into Audi’s rebranded F1 campaign. (msn.com) Multiple F1 outlets are reporting that Wheatley is the leading candidate to replace Adrian Newey at Aston Martin as the Silverstone team accelerates a senior‑leadership review. (motorsport.com) Adrian Newey had been formally named Aston Martin team principal in late November 2025 after joining as managing technical partner, and several reports now say he is expected to revert to a purely technical role rather than front‑running day‑to‑day team management. (motorsport.com) Aston Martin’s official channels have publicly dismissed immediate replacement rumours and reiterated that Newey remains in his team‑principal role while the organisation reviews its leadership structure. (astonmartinf1.com) The personnel scramble follows a campaign start in which the AMR26 has repeatedly failed to complete a full Grand Prix distance because of severe vibrations attributed to the new Honda power unit, a reliability problem that produced a DNF for Fernando Alonso in Melbourne. (motorsport.com) Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack acknowledged that Aston Martin’s communications at the Australian Grand Prix were “a mess,” a rare public admission of operational breakdown that teams cite when accelerating management changes. (gpfans.com) Wheatley’s abrupt exit comes less than a year after he joined Audi’s F1 project, and racing media say Aston Martin moved quickly to identify experienced replacements as pressure mounted on performance and organisational stability. (racer.com)
