Audi joins F1 in 2026 – can the former Sauber team climb the Formula One grid?

Can a team that ranked ninth out of 10 last year fare any better in the 2026 Formula One season? That’s the burning question on the minds of F1 fans as the season kicks off in Melbourne last weekend (Mar 8), with Kick Sauber now known as the Audi Revolut F1 Team.

But this isn’t simply a rebrand. Sauber’s somewhat tacky lime green and black have been replaced by a cooler titanium silver, carbon black and Audi red livery – and hopes are that the new look signals more points, more podiums and perhaps even a win or two for former Sauber drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, now in Audi race suits.

Enter Jonathan Wheatley. 

The F1 veteran worked closely with Michael Schumacher, helping him to his first two Formula One World Championship titles with Benetton in the mid-1990s, before Schumacher’s historic move to Ferrari.

In 2002, Benetton became Renault. Wheatley again helped deliver back-to-back championships alongside Fernando Alonso, as the team swept both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles in the mid-2000s.

CHAMPIONSHIP-WINNING PEDIGREE

With a reputation for building high-performing teams, Wheatley joined Red Bull Racing in 2006. He played an integral role in its rise, which yielded 14 World Championship titles in total – eight Drivers’ and six Constructors’ – during his time with the team, including his tenure as Sporting Director from 2018.

“I don't mess around. I don't leave teams and jump around to further my career,” he told CNA Luxury when we met at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The hot topic that day was Audi’s Formula One debut in 2026. The move was first announced in 2022, when Audi bought a stake in Sauber – and Wheatley was now in place to steer the established but struggling team through the transition.

“I've been lucky to get the right phone call at the right point at every stage of my career, and I'm loving the role,” Wheatley said.

After two decades with Red Bull, he joined Sauber as Team Principal on April 1, 2025 – an eyebrow-raising move after Red Bull’s winning streak, fuelled by Max Verstappen’s dominance in the years prior. Still, this was no April Fool’s joke.

It was a tactical move to lead the Swiss-based team’s transition into what is now officially the Audi Revolut F1 Team, working alongside Mattia Binotto – another iconic F1 figure and a former Ferrari team principal.

Together, the duo’s championship-winning pedigree is central to the team’s long-term ambitions, under a co-leadership structure that oversees its racing, operational and technical direction.

SHIFTING GEARS

Reflecting on his decision to join the Audi F1 Project, Wheatley shared: “I thought to myself, ‘Do I spend the rest of my career here watching the leaves grow and fall again in the autumn, or do I see what else I'm capable of in my career before I leave Formula One?’.”

While the team’s headquarters remains in Switzerland, a new engineering hub has been set up in Bicester, Oxfordshire – allowing Wheatley to remain in the United Kingdom as he helps drive the Sauber–Audi transition.

“Everything about this project takes me back to being a kid watching the Audi Group B Quattro rallies [of the 1980s],” he recalled. “The Audi Quattro was an aspirational car when it was new. And the way they explained the joint leadership of this project with Mattia drew me to it; I didn't even give it a second thought and I've been excited about it since Day One.”

Wheatley is well-versed in spearheading organisational change. “Having been in transformational processes first at Benetton then at Renault, and then at Red Bull, it's not an unusual place for me to be going from a smaller team with large ambitions,” he continued.

In a sport where resources can determine performance, being part of Audi – a Volkswagen Group subsidiary which owns Bentley, Lamborghini, and Ducati – has its benefits.

Top of Wheatley’s agenda, then, was tackling “big team stuff” – from organisational and reporting structures to financial management, communications, race strategy and trackside operations.

“I've seen where resources have been ill-spent before, perhaps steered in one direction by the business,” Wheatley observed. 

“So one of the questions was, ‘Are we spending money on the right things’? We're expanding as a team and sometimes, money, effort or energy can be spent in the wrong direction. So, it was about streamlining processes and I wanted to make sure that we’re getting all of that right. Ultimately, my focus is going to be on performance, on and off the track, and that’s where we're focusing ourselves at the moment,” he added. 

The seasoned leader, who took over shortly after the 2025 season began, implemented changes gradually last year rather than burdening the team with a sweeping overhaul on arrival.

“You don't want to change too much, because it will just confuse people,” he cautioned. “You can't just bring in new methodologies during a season because the ship is pretty much already set in that direction.”

While Wheatley is reticent to put numbers on expectations, Audi’s debut promises to add intrigue to the grid, building on the momentum of Hülkenberg’s first F1 podium – third place at last year’s British Grand Prix, in his 16th season.

Can that spark continue with Audi’s arrival? If so, it could be enough to move the team up a few notches this season. Stay tuned.