Marko reveals why Jonathan Wheatley left Red Bull

Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has opened up on the imminent departure of the Austro-British team’s sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.

Red Bull confirmed during the summer break that their Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley will leave the Austro-British outfit, as he heads to a new challenge, taking up the role of Team Principal with the Audi F1 Project.

Wheatley began his motorsport career at Benetton as a junior mechanic in the early 1990s. He rose through the ranks at the Enstone-based team to become the chief mechanic from 2001 until 2006 when he left to join Red Bull Racing. He will head the Sauber outfit which will become Audi's works entry in 2026.

Asked why the Briton has elected to part ways with the Milton Keynes-based outfit, Marko hinted that Red Bull could not match Audi's offer for Wheatley in terms of both position and financial compensation.

"Jonathan Wheatley was a very important part of the team. But he’s now in his mid-50s. He wanted to get a position which is more demanding for him, and unfortunately, this Audi offer came, which we couldn’t match – either the position nor the money which was offered.

Despite his wealth of knowledge and experience, Marko is hopeful that Red Bull will be able to split Wheatley’s responsibilities among several people, who have been part of the team for several years.

“We trained young people. We are educating them, and so we have the possibility we will put the position of Jonathan on several persons. We believe we can handle the situation," Marko said.