Who slept best last night: Jonathan Wheatley

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Dear readers,

I can still remember exactly one year ago when I went to the Sauber hospitality area in the paddock of the Austrian Grand Prix and met Oliver Hoffmann, the then head of Audi's Formula 1 project - but he was more concerned than anything else with former national player Maximilian Arnold and his entourage.

And even back then, I asked myself whether this was the right focus and approach for a young, practically new team: using the glamour of the certainly dazzling Formula 1 environment to court star guests - such as footballers from the company's own VfL Wolfsburg team?

Sure, Red Bull does that too, traditionally, and especially this weekend at their home game in Spielberg, where Jürgen Klopp was there – and just before the race started, he cheekily snatched the boss's chair from Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer. Klopp, after all, is a boss.

Hoffmann dragged Seidl into the abyss

Back then, twelve months ago, Oliver Hoffmann was something like the Jürgen Klopp of the Audi-Sauber project. With his beard and—at least in the past, before the complete overhaul of the advertising phenomenon of Mainz, Dortmund, Liverpool, and now Fuschl—glasses, there was even a certain visual resemblance to "Kloppo." Only in terms of success did the two remain worlds apart.

At that time, Sauber was last in the Constructors' World Championship, with zero points. Perhaps that's also why Red Bull—after series wins and titles—seems to be a better fit for its star-studded lineup. And why Hoffmann, just a few days after this snapshot, was already history.

However, he dragged the man I actually wanted to go to into the abyss with him during that hospitality visit with Arnold and his entourage: then-Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl. Seidl became a pawn in the Hoffmann storm and, at the end of a power struggle that had only losers, also had to leave.

Audi enables Wheatley to jump to the front row

Seidl was previously severely restricted, as Audi's complete takeover of the racing team dragged on for a long time - and even when it was completed, the German still did not have the full financial resources at his disposal, could not distribute the money to the right places, in short, could not do as he pleased - and then he also had this counterpart in Hoffmann, who always knew everything better.

But in the end, Audi didn't even bother to figure out who had messed up and who was responsible for what: They simply ousted both of them – classic corporate politics, that is – and installed a supposedly better solution. First Mattia Binotto, and a little later Jonathan Wheatley. Two key figures at their former teams, one at Ferrari, the other at Red Bull.

But while Binotto had already been at the forefront as team boss at the Scuderia - which surprised some observers at the time, as the Italian is first and foremost a great technician and was perhaps not so ideally suited to his last role with the Reds - Wheatley was extremely successful at Red Bull, but as sporting director and de facto "brain" at the command center, he was more in the second row.

That changed with his move to the ambitious Audi project and the role of team principal. And now, roughly halfway through the season, the personnel restructuring finally seems to be bearing fruit. The last time both Sauber drivers finished in the points—curiously, also in eighth and ninth place—was in Qatar in 2023.

The latter country could also be used to build a nice connection to the Audi project, but that would go too far at this point – and that one shouldn't overextend the Qatar project was impressively demonstrated by a crane truck driver in Spielberg on Sunday...

Red Bull apparently misses not only Adrian Newey

So, back to Sauber, or more specifically, to Wheatley: While his two drivers raced into the points , the drivers of his great former team, Red Bull, failed to do so on Sunday – for the first time after 77 consecutive points-scoring finishes. Whenever things go wrong for the Bulls these days that used to run like clockwork, Wheatley's name comes up.

Together with Adrian Newey, he is probably the man the once successful racing team from Milton Keynes misses the most: And even Max Verstappen's often fabulous performances can no longer disguise their year-long form crisis - some even believe in permanent decline in view of the new 2026 rules.

While persistent rumors about the world champion leaving for Mercedes still persist, while Christian Horner still seems to have his hands full trying to iron out the after-effects of the scandal surrounding him, which has left deep furrows in the team structure, Wheatley has put all these problems behind him for a new future - and in doing so, he may have done a lot of things right.

Wheatley successfully continues Seidl's mission

The recent updates, especially to the underbody, have clearly had a huge impact – and Sauber's third consecutive points-scoring race seems to be showing the first signs of what could slowly begin to blossom between Hinwil and Neuburg an der Donau. Especially since, with the new leadership duo, the division of powers seems to be much better distributed than before with Hoffmann and Seidl.

On the one hand, Binotto takes care of the points of contact with the group, including with Audi boss Gernot Döllner - and as a true insider of the sport, he can provide much better feedback than his supposed predecessor in the middleman role - but he also gets involved in technical innovations, after all, as mentioned, Binotto comes from this field and has his expertise there.

At the same time, Wheatley can concentrate much better on the core sporting business, can work calmly with the team in Hinwil and take care of improving all the tools, such as the simulator or the factory, which is now being expanded and brought up to scratch because everything is simply getting a bit old.

A circumstance that Seidl had also noticed, but, as mentioned, his hands were tied when trying to rectify it. Wheatley, it seems, has had more luck and significantly better timing. And is also benefiting in part from decisions the German initiated over a year ago.

Hülkenberg and Bortoleto: Audi with a harmonious duo

Like the signing of Nico Hülkenberg, for example. This weekend in Spielberg also shows that Audi has indeed positioned itself well in its driver selection: In addition to the veteran signed by Seidl, reigning Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto joined the team at the end of last season.

While the tabloid media in this country were loudly promoting Mick Schumacher for the second Audi cockpit - and there were also many voices that perhaps it would be better to stick with the hapless Valtteri Bottas - half a year later it is clear that Sauber has found exactly the right mix of experience and talent with its chosen mix.

Hülkenberg has proven, not least at Haas, that he can drive and build a team forward. With Bortoleto, however, they have signed an up-and-coming young star who has nothing to fear from the other rookies of the current generation—quite the opposite, in fact, as the impressive Spielberg weekend demonstrated.

With this duo, Audi can look to the future with confidence - especially since both drivers get along well and there was a human click between them from the very beginning: Like in China, for example, when Hülkenberg got something in his eye and suddenly Bortoleto stood in front of him in the driver's compartment with a first-aid kit and offered him his help.

Conversely, the "Hulk" demonstrated genuine joy about the team's and his teammate's result in his interviews on Sunday - even when he jumped out of the shower wearing only a towel to congratulate the rookie in the Sauber hospitality area on the first points of his F1 career.

A warm and wonderfully down-to-earth moment – ​​one that fits the image of the down-to-earth group from Hinwil much better, the underdog that the team still is at the beginning of its journey with Audi. You don't need football stars, big watches, or expensive suits for that. You can safely put all that aside – just don't let Hülkenberg throw in the towel, please...

Yours, Frederik Hackbarth