The personnel and sporting chaos surrounding Aston Martin remains the number one topic of conversation in Formula 1. New details about Adrian Newey are now coming to light. These don’t make the team or him look particularly good.
It has become clear to everyone in recent weeks that Adrian Newey was miscast in his dual role as technical director and team boss at the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. The experiment failed, and for this reason the top engineer will probably resign his position as team boss again soon.
According to a report by the specialist portal “PlanetF1”, Newey more or less foresaw this development. It is said that he himself started looking for another team boss at the end of 2025. In this context, he is said to have made contact with Jonathan Wheatley, who completely unexpectedly resigned from his job at Audi last week.
Does Aston Martin have to wait longer for a new team boss?
According to “PlanetF1” information, Newey’s advance had gotten around in the paddock up until the test drives in Bahrain – including among the Audi leadership, who were therefore able to prepare for the departure of their team boss at an early stage. Although the exchange of Newey and Wheatley is now an open secret, Aston Martin only publicly announced a few days ago that they would continue to rely on Newey as team boss. A statement that is not very credible.
However, the team’s public statement could have another reason: Although Wheatley is without a job on paper, he cannot easily move to another team.
For him, the “gardening leave” that is common in Formula 1 applies, i.e. a forced time off after a dismissal.
This can theoretically be avoided if the teams concerned agree and, for example, negotiate a transfer fee. Whether Aston Martin will try this route remains to be seen.
