Max Verstappen has finally broken his silence on the departure of Red Bull’s Sporting Director, Jonathan Wheatley. The team announced Wheatley’s resignation earlier this month, but according to Verstappen, there’s no ill will towards the outgoing director. In fact, Wheatley personally called Verstappen during the summer break to share the news.
In early August, Red Bull announced that their current Sporting Director, Jonathan Wheatley, would be leaving the Austrian team. The British executive is set to join Sauber as the new team boss for the Audi project. Having worked at Red Bull for over eighteen years, Wheatley had developed a strong rapport with Max Verstappen. Now, for the first time, Verstappen has shared his thoughts on Wheatley’s departure with the press in Zandvoort.
The Relationship with Jonathan Wheatley
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Jonathan. However, when you receive such an offer, your ambition is naturally to rise higher,” the three-time world champion understands Wheatley’s decision. “That simply wasn’t possible with us. He could always stay in his role as long as he wanted. He couldn’t rise higher, and there (at Audi) he was given the opportunity to do so.”
Besides the fact that there was no room for Wheatley to grow at Red Bull, the Austrian racing team also couldn’t make a counteroffer. “And of course, the offer (from Audi) itself was quite good,” Verstappen admits honestly. “When you’re dealing with a budget cap, you can’t easily meet the offer as Red Bull. As I said earlier in the press conference, there are no hard feelings.” Verstappen reveals that Wheatley also personally called him to share the news.
Impact on Red Bull
Wheatley is not the only Red Bull employee leaving the racing team after this season. Top designer Adrian Newey also announced earlier in the year that he would step down in 2025. What is the impact of the departure of all these key figures? “The roles now need to be distributed among other people,” is Verstappen’s pragmatic response. “We are busy with that.”
