In short
Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring NLS/24H Nürburgring weekend (including a disqualification and tire-count detail), plus Formula One team-principal rumors and instability at Aston Martin and Audi—specifically Adrian Newey stepping back and Jonathan Wheatley potentially replacing him.
Guests/backgrounds
Naomi (former F1 driver; hosts/analyst), Jolie (co-host; discusses endurance racing logistics), DC (former F1 driver; gives contract/team-principal perspective), Will (co-host/producer voice). They also reference Jonathan Wheatley’s career (mechanic to team principal; Audi transition from Sauber).
Key claims
Aston Martin’s leadership shake-up is “practically screwed” under budget-cap constraints; Newey’s move is portrayed as practical due to technical workload. Wheatley is framed as ruthless-but-culture-focused, not a yes-man. Rumors are linked by timing: Newey’s TP change talk and Wheatley leaving Audi “within hours.”
Notable examples
NLS at Nordschleife (20.8 km, 150+ corners, multi-class traffic); Verstappen’s team used seven sets of tires instead of six during qualifying/driver-change practice; Verstappen won pole/win until disqualification. Audi/Aston: Wheatley credited with pit-stop improvements (4s to 2.5s) and Audi competitiveness; Alan McNish suggested as Audi TP alternative.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMax Verstappen's Weekend Racing
0:46 to 4:00
Discussion about Max Verstappen's performance at the Nürburgring.
“the details of the story that has been swirling for the last few days surrounding aston martin and audi and all that is going on there but first and foremost let's go to germany let's go to the Nordschleife.”
Challenges of the Nürburgring
4:01 to 7:54
Detailed explanation of the Nürburgring circuit and its challenges.
“I mean, those videos that I've seen, the clips I've seen from the race, is sensational.”
Aston Martin's Leadership Uncertainty
7:55 to 13:14
Exploration of Aston Martin's leadership changes and challenges.
“Is it a bit like, you know, you turn up on sports day, right?”
Speculations on Jonathan Wheatley
13:15 to 14:00
Discussion on Jonathan Wheatley's potential move to Aston Martin.
“Whatever the reasons for Jonathan leaving Audi are, they've been pitched as personal reasons and take that at face value for now.”
Power Dynamics in Team Management
14:00 to 16:40
Exploring the challenges and power dynamics of team principal roles in F1, especially concerning Aston Martin.
“So I don't know if it's so much that, but maybe the environment wasn't great.”
Challenges Faced by New Team Principals
16:40 to 19:20
Discussing the difficulties and expectations for anyone stepping into the team principal role at Aston Martin.
“a puppet that will do whatever Lawrence Stroll wants, who is willing to step into that and to be that person?”
Adrian Newey's Role and Team Dynamics
19:20 to 22:50
Analyzing Adrian Newey's position and the impact of leadership changes on Aston Martin's performance.
“But you kind of get the feeling that that would be using the resource of Adrian Newey and not the wisest way.”
The Importance of a Strong Team Principal
22:50 to 26:20
Discussing the critical role of a team principal in shaping team culture and success in Formula 1.
“He doesn't have his own private equity company, but he's got so much money.”
Future Prospects for Team Leadership
26:20 to 28:00
Speculating on potential future leaders in F1 and the importance of fresh perspectives in leadership roles.
“We have a willingness to be in the room together.”
Leadership Changes in Formula 1
28:00 to 30:28
Discussion on the potential leadership changes at Aston Martin and Audi, focusing on key figures like Mattia Binotto and Alan McNish.
“But Mattia's got a cracking personality hasn't he?”
Show all 13 chapters
Interacting with Fans
30:28 to 31:01
Hosts encourage listener engagement through social media and introduce a special question from actor Danny Dyer.
“And again, when we've said this, after two races, this feels, it's incredibly rare and incredibly strange that this kind of thing happens in Formula One.”
Favorite F1 Moments
31:01 to 33:50
Hosts share their favorite Formula 1 moments, invoking nostalgia and personal experiences from races and iconic events.
“and make sure you stick around because in just a while we're going to have a question from actor danny dyer hello jolly naomi will and the dc it's your mate here danny dyer and i want to ask you a Question.”
Memorable Races and Championships
33:50 to 36:53
Further discussion on significant races in F1 history, including Lewis Hamilton's first title and other memorable moments.
“Lewis winning his first title was incredible because we're up in this media center and the rain has literally been pouring in through the ceiling all through the race.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:02Adrian Newey:This is a Global Player original podcast. If you are stepping into that Aston Martin position right now, you're screwed. When they need to be in the trenches, he's there. I've got more money than God. Great. But we exist in Formula One under a budget cap.
0:16Jonathan Wheatley:It's a whole load of change.
0:18Adrian Newey:A full-on adrenaline rush.
0:20Jonathan Wheatley:Like a team manager on steroids. Absolute monster.
0:23Adrian Newey:What is going on? He's a shark. He's got the sharpest teeth that you have ever seen.
0:35Jonathan Wheatley:up to speed
0:40Adrian Newey:it's will it's naomi it's david it's joley welcome to up to speed uh now we are going to get into the details of the story that has been swirling for the last few days surrounding aston martin and audi and all that is going on there but first and foremost let's go to germany let's go to the Nordschleife. Let's talk Max Verstappen. Naomi, it is such a cool thing that Max is doing, going and racing other things, had the victory, lost the victory. Explain to us what is NLS and what did Max and his team actually do this weekend that has got everybody so hyped up?
1:18Jonathan Wheatley:It's a sensational circuit. I mean, I've been fortunate enough to race in that 24-hour race and it's quite particular. It's not like anything else I've ever raced. Firstly, the fandom around it is just sensational. The fans line up a week before the event. They start camping around the event. And it's just very, very special. But what Max went out and did this weekend was, obviously, you know, we can't take anything away from them. They finished almost a minute ahead of the competition, which in itself is really, really good. But we just have to remind fans that on the circuit, gaps like a minute long can be quite common.
1:52Jonathan Wheatley:Those who were there competing in preparation for the 24 hours of Nürburgring were maybe not pushing quite as hard as Max was, who was on a mission to get pole and win the race.
2:02Adrian Newey:And win the race he did until he was disqualified. And obviously it's a team of three, including Danny Juncadela, who, you know, very successful in his own right on his way up the junior formulas. They used seven sets of tires instead of six. I'm going to drop in a six, seven here, Jolie. I have no idea what that means, but I dropped it in the group chat the other day. So I was impressed. I'm trying to be down with it. Literally no idea. I'm just reading until I understand. Anyway, used one extra set of tyres. Naomi, you can speak to this. Is that the minute? Is that the 59 seconds difference, that fresh set of tyres?
2:36Adrian Newey:I mean, they admitted that it was during qualifying that they had used that extra set of tyres because they were doing driver changes and practising and all of that. Is it just a clerical error, or do we read that into why they had the advantage and ultimately won by a minute?
2:51Jonathan Wheatley:No, I don't think that that can really go too much to having given them an advantage, as you say. They're practicing pit stops because in endurance racing, pit stops can win or lose the race for you, a little bit like in Formula One. But from what I'm hearing from a couple of friends of mine who are still racing in GT racing and will be at the event, they do believe that they are favorites for the race, for the 24 hours of Nürburgring, which is an incredibly competitive event. So for Max to be jumping in from his Formula One duties, of course, he's got very professional teammates, as you mentioned.
3:23Jonathan Wheatley:but they are looking like favourites regardless of whether they may or may not have had more tyres or had a potential advantage from that they still went out there and had an incredible performance so it's looking good I think it's just amazing on his weekends off we've seen Lewis strolling through the streets of Tokyo with his new friends and you've got Max out doing what he loves to do which is racing and I just want to touch on the fact that when he's been quite vocal in the first two races about his frustration of the way they have to go racing in Formula One right now, he's not just saying it and then going and lying on the beach.
3:57Jonathan Wheatley:He's saying it and then going racing. And racing he is. I mean, those videos that I've seen, the clips I've seen from the race, is sensational.
4:06Adrian Newey:Oh, it's mental track. He's a monster.
4:08Jonathan Wheatley:He's an absolute monster.
4:10Adrian Newey:What I loved, though, was the positivity towards those he was racing against. Yes. And Max has a huge following, huge level of fanaticism that goes with him wherever he goes. And those he raced against actually posted on social media and been like, thank you for the outpouring of love. I loved racing, Max, as well. It was great fun. This is what we do week in, week out. We've said before, though, he's very grounded.
4:32Jonathan Wheatley:He is a very grounded guy. You know, I'm not sure if that comes across in Drive to Survive. I'm not sure if it comes across in the Formula One coverage, but I can see him there just sharing the experience. And as Naomi's already touched on, driving the Green Hill, the Norshleifer, it is a full on adrenaline rush. It is like off the charts. It's up there with Suzuka Spa on steroids. It's amazing. Yeah, I mean, look, it's got, as I said, 20.8 kilometre circuit. It's incredibly long, almost over 150 corners. I remember when I was learning it, because I also had to go through this process of getting this permit.
5:09Jonathan Wheatley:It was really tricky on the sim because a lot of the sectors actually resemble each other. There's a lot of blind sections, so you can't really tell what's coming next. it is really a challenge like no other and then on top of that as I said there's multiple categories on track at the same time so there's a huge you know difference in speed between them and overtaking is really tricky as you would have seen in the clips that Jolie was mentioning the track is so narrow so yeah it's a lot of fun but it takes a lot of guts as well to go racing around that place yeah it's absolutely amazing but I think this might be the saving grace for Max's I say short-term Formula One career the fact that he's getting these dip in to other race tracks and having dropped two Grand Prix's from this calendar so far with the two Middle Eastern races going it might actually open up opportunity for them to do a bit more GT racing.
5:55Jonathan Wheatley:Well that's what I want to understand I mean in contracts you know we see it across football footballers often in their contracts says they can't go skiing they can't do any hazardous activities how does that work for F1 drivers? Not every contract's got it my Williams contract precluded me from doing anything like hang gliding and base jumping things that I would never want to do and then my McLaren contract I would go skiing with Ron Dennis who's the team principal Mika Hakkinen we'd go there in the winter for training and and skiing and Ron's point of view was you're a professional you're an adult big mistake thing assuming that but if you're not able to race I'm not paying you so he assumed that we would take enough care and what we were doing that we wouldn't get injured and I actually
6:38Adrian Newey:did nine well I did 15 seasons in Formula One never missed the race and then when Pablo Montoya signed for McLaren and had a, in inverted commas, tennis accident in the other season. Fell off a motorbike, did he not? Fell off a motorbike, exactly, exactly that, TC. I wonder if Ron changed it after that. But yeah, no, I mean, look, great. Great to see Max out there racing on a non-F1 weekend. And I've always loved the idea of drivers going out and racing as many things as they can. I love to see the crossover. And you look happy, right? Oh, he was so happy.
7:14Jonathan Wheatley:He was loving it.
7:14Adrian Newey:And also, I like the fact that here is a four time Formula One world champion who is not, you know, bigger than or doesn't believe himself to be bigger than the championship. Didn't turn up and say, I'm a four time champion. Of course, I should have a license to go and race. No, no, no. He's doing his dues. He's going through it. He's earning his license and he's earning his right to be there and race against, you know, the field who have also earned their right to be there. I think that's a really, really good thing.
7:40Jonathan Wheatley:Did anyone get any insight to the comparable lap times with his teammates? Because that's always going to be the thing. If I was, you said, John Cadella, I'd love to know how I'd compare to Max. Because as you all know, the most recent comparison I did with him, I was five seconds slower on a three-kilometre track.
7:59Adrian Newey:Is it a bit like, you know, you turn up on sports day, right? And you're about to start the egg and spoon race in the parents' race. And then suddenly Usain Bolt is lining up alongside you. you know, limbering up in his Lycra outfit. And you're like, well, that's this one done.
8:16Jonathan Wheatley:Did I tell you my Hussein Bolt story? No. So I went all the way to KL to do a talk for the government on high performance, you know, teamwork, all of the good things that Formula One does. And I put a lot of effort in, delivered the keynote and the audience very politely went, thank you, thank you, thank you. Hussein Bolt walks out on stage, does the bowl, the audience go mental. He didn't even say anything. All he did was have to do that thing and they were just like beside himself and they'd flown him in from Jamaica privately to Malaysia to do the thing and that was it.
8:52Adrian Newey:That's the power of stardom. What you needed DC was a trademark celebration.
8:58Jonathan Wheatley:What would it be?
9:00Adrian Newey:Show us now, what would it be?
9:01Jonathan Wheatley:If you could have anything, go back in time. Well, I didn't really have something but I remember my first podium my manager asked me are you happy were you happy and I went yes and he went well next time can you tell your face Portugal it was Portugal 94 long before you even thought of this is true before we move on um and we should move on but I would highly recommend the audience to head over to YouTube and watch the lap record of the Nürburgring or the Nordschleife, which is in a Porsche 919 Evo hybrid car, it will blow your mind. Just to give you an idea of what that circuit is like and the nature of it, check it out.
9:41Jonathan Wheatley:It's got 12 million views for a reason. Go head over and go have a look at it and let us know in the comments what you think. Nicky Lauda, who was a great Formula One world champion, and from his mouth, this is acceptable. He told me one night at dinner that they were still trying to find his ear that he lost during his fiery crash at the Norskliber. And he was pronounced dead at the hospital and miraculously came back to go on and win the world championship that year. So it had to be him telling the joke for it to be funny. But he did.
10:15Adrian Newey:James won it that year. But Nicky came back.
10:16Jonathan Wheatley:Oh, you're right. 76 in Fuji.
10:19Adrian Newey:Well, Naomi, you bring up a brilliant point, obviously, about the teams wanting to get their affairs in order before the Nürburgring 24. When we talk about teams needing to get their affairs in order in Formula One, we look no further than Aston Martin, a horror show start to the season. And over the weekend, lots of rumors starting to circulate about ultimately who is running that team. Adrian Newey, the design genius, the guru, became team principal not four months ago, which I think took a lot of us by surprise. Adrian Newey had never really searched for that kind of a role. But sure enough, into the team principal role, he has stepped.
10:59Adrian Newey:And then suddenly over the weekend, rumours that he would be replaced as team principal and move back to his position as technical director and solely focused on being the technical director of the team. And the name raised as that which likely to replace him was Jonathan Wheatley, team principal over at Audi.
11:18Jonathan Wheatley:Well, look, I mean, Steve Jobs said it best. He said, you can't do everything yourself. You have to hire extraordinary people around you. the question is you know would Jonathan Wheatley have that line of being extraordinary he's got a great track record he's contributed to eight constructor wins 11 driver titles I guess could be called one of the pioneers of getting or if not the pioneer of getting the pit stop from four seconds down to two and a half he's definitely a great success where does this leave him now I can go further and deeper than that unsurprisingly as the eldest around the the group when I was in karting back in the 80s he raced then got on the spanners became a mechanic he would wear white gloves when he was mechanicing which in karting anyone who's been in karting Naomi will know this you end up anything white ends up black by the end of the day because it's just oil chain oil flying everywhere but the fact that he was wearing white gloves it was a kind of statement to how well prepared his cart was and that work ethic he comes from racing stock his father has long been a member of the BRDC the bridge racing driver club who owns silverson and he's risen up through the ranks as a mechanic to chief mechanic to sporting director all the way into being a team principal for me he's driven and he has all of the elbows out that's necessary you know all of These guys that are driven can smile on the outside, but when they need to be in the trenches, he's there.
12:50Adrian Newey:And Jonathan was moved into that team principal role at Audi, has done a wonderful job transitioning Sauber into Audi. Audi have turned up this year more competitive, I think, than anybody expected them to be. The question mark was, well, why is Jonathan's name being, you know, mooted for this role? He's perfectly happy and doing brilliantly at Audi. Then suddenly we get the news over the weekend. Jonathan has left Audi for personal reasons.
13:16Jonathan Wheatley:Yeah.
13:17Adrian Newey:Whatever the reasons for Jonathan leaving Audi are, they've been pitched as personal reasons and take that at face value for now. But the fact that it all came up literally within a very short space of time, a couple of hours, that the rumor of Adrian stepping aside at Aston Martin, Jonathan's name mooted as his replacement and Jonathan leaving Audi. all within a few hours felt very very very close um Naomi it's a I mean it's a fascinating situation and a quickly evolving one yeah it also sounds like the information of Jonathan leaving
13:53Jonathan Wheatley:was um possibly leaked and therefore Audi had to get ahead of it and put out a message I um hosted the launch for for Audi this season so I was with um Jonathan and Mattia backstage and I sort of I don't know if there's maybe some power dynamic issues there or you know I think we do see it a lot more with teams today obviously you've got like the likes of Andrea Stella who clearly works underneath Zach Brown who's CEO but if Jonathan well obviously at the time of recording becomes team principal at Aston I don't think that nature necessarily of the role changes much because he's still going to be underneath someone who's going to tell him mostly what to do.
Read the full transcript
14:33Jonathan Wheatley:So I don't know if it's so much that, but maybe the environment wasn't great. Maybe he wants to get closer to home. I don't know. Do you guys have any ideas what those personal reasons might be? Maybe a little extra Mool-Aid? A hundred percent. I'm going to go with, you know, that chocolate bar that's based on the Swiss Alps. Yes. It's really difficult to eat. You know, it pokes you in the top of the mouth. The triangular shaped one. The triangular shaped one. Toblerone, yeah. I reckon he went there, took on the challenge of trying to eat a Toblerone without destroying the roof of your mouth. And he's given up.
15:00Jonathan Wheatley:He's gone, I'm going back. Like I'm going back to the UK where the chocolate bars are easy to eat.
15:06Adrian Newey:Well, easy to eat. I don't know how how easy things are going to be at Aston Martin when we in our in our little WhatsApp group. Right. When we first heard the rumblings of Adrian moving back to TP and the TP role being up for grabs at Aston Martin. My immediate response is who the hell wants it. Right. Because who wants to step into a job where, you know, ultimately you are going to fail for at least the next year if not two years the the the Honda scenario at Aston Martin is a disaster and it is as bad if not worse than what McLaren were facing when Honda first came back in 2015 Honda's disaster of 2015 took them five years to rectify they didn't get a Grand Prix win until 2019 that's their fifth season back and it was with a different team when they moved to Red Bull McLaren themselves after the Ferrari and the the difficulties they had with Honda didn't get a Grand Prix victory until 2021 so if you are stepping into that Aston Martin position right now you have got to be aware that for the foreseeable future possibly the rest of this decade you're screwed you're completely screwed and you can't just throw money at it Lawrence Stroll can sit there and say I've got more money than God, great but we exist in Formula 1 under a budget cap, you cannot just throw money at it like you could 10, 15, 20 years ago.
16:28Adrian Newey:There has to be process. There has to be a decent knowledge of where you're heading. And if Lawrence Stroll is ultimately overseeing all of this and what you need is a yes man, a puppet that will do whatever Lawrence Stroll wants, who is willing to step into that and to be that person? Yes, you may have a massive, very lucrative salary because of it. But if your intention is to be a success and as we know Jonathan to strive for the best and to and to win races and win world championships are you going to have that before 2030 I'd argue not well I mean
17:05Jonathan Wheatley:touching upon you know Jonathan as an individual I was with Naomi at the Audi launch spent some time with him I've spent some time with him previously before as well and you know at face value again from what we've seen on shows like Drive to Survive he comes across like a really nice guy who cares a lot about culture, who does things differently to the likes. We've spoken about Christian Horner before, how it worked at Red Bull. At Aldi, he was very firm in having a different culture. Now potentially going to Aston Martin, I'm not sure he can embed that culture there.
17:39Adrian Newey:Is cuddly Jonathan going to be allowed to be cuddly? With Lance and Lawrence?
17:44Jonathan Wheatley:I think you guys are misreading how cuddly Jonathan is. I know he's a fighter. He will do what he needs to do with a sporting ethic. I'm a big fan of, I would have a mighty any day.
17:58Adrian Newey:He might give the impression that he's a dolphin, right? Who likes to swim along and bounce out of the water and headbutt balloons and play up for the crowd, right? He's a shark. He's got the sharpest teeth that you have ever seen. Like Jonathan is he's relentless when he wants something and to fight for wins and titles and lovely bloke. But behind the scenes and when you need him to be, that man is ruthless.
18:28Jonathan Wheatley:Yeah. And I also think that it's I mean, we can't downplay the the importance of having someone that also forward facing to the media, to the fans, whatever carries sort of enthusiasm. And I think that that's what's so refreshing about Jonathan is that he does come across as this wonderful, lovely, you know, character. But then he can still back it by, you know, knowing everything that he knows coming, you know, out and truly not being someone that the that the competition should take for granted. I mean, he knows what he's doing. He's proven it time and time again at Red Bull. And I think that a lot of teams would be happy to have Jonathan within their team in that role.
19:03Jonathan Wheatley:Now, I think when we saw the news of Adrian becoming TP at Aston, I don't think I don't know how how did you guys feel about it? I mean, I didn't ever think that that was something that was going to always interim. Yeah, they never came out and said blank that it was a temporary position. But you kind of get the feeling that that would be using the resource of Adrian Newey and not the wisest way. because and especially now that I'm sure they have all these technical issues that they have it's probably why this has happened even quicker than we could have expected it to because there is so much for him to focus on there is so much for him to be thinking about and this is also why we haven't seen him present at a couple of races there's too much work for him to be doing on the technical front for him to have to worry about the other things that come with being a team principal yeah I having spent most of my career working with Adrian would never have seen him as a as a team principle he is technically driven he's a racer he is a problem solver in in from a technical point of view the the politics of formula one which is what the team principle has to deal with a lot and the politics that are sometimes created with the media as well is not at all and especially adrian's stage of life in his 60s you know there's a you'll find as you go through the decades there's there's certain things that you're prepared to do that you're not prepared to do when you get a bit older because you know you're less runway ahead than behind and I never saw that as a long-term play so I'm curious beyond the statement we saw from Lauren Stroll where he was reaffirming the fact that Adrian's a partner in the team he's got a shareholding and they're going forward together with the original plan I think it's just a readdressing of what was a short-term and actually what's turned out to be a bit of a PR own goal because it created a scenario of questioning from the majority of people who were thinking, does that really work?
21:02Adrian Newey:And now it's kind of like, well, as we thought, that was never going to work. And if you want somebody to be that team principal now, I think Jonathan is the, he's the guy that everybody would want and particularly to work alongside Adrian. You know, he's worked with Adrian, he knows him inside and out. those two could work together beautifully. When I refer to, you know, Jonathan as being ruthless behind the scenes, I don't say that as a negative. I say that as an immense positive. I like Jonathan very much as a person and his results stand for themselves. They speak for themselves. He has won Driver and Constructors Championships going all the way back to the mid-1990s.
21:40Adrian Newey:That man knows what it takes.
21:41Jonathan Wheatley:I guess why did they end up in the situation to begin with? Why did they not come out from the beginning and say, this is a temporary role. And why was it a temporary role? Why did they feel the need to put Adrian in that position to begin with? I mean, does this potentially lead us to believe that these Honda problems and the situation they've ended up in today was already sort of being thought about at the time that Adrian was announced team principal? Because, you know, Andy Cowell is obviously responsible for that side of things now, and he was previously TP. So, you know, is this now retroactively telling us what's
22:14Adrian Newey:happened it feels like it feels like a football club you know it feels like a football club that was bought by a russian oligarch in the 90s 2000s that just threw money at a problem changed manager every six months and ultimately you know never really achieved the premier league the champions yeah you know but i don't like this notion of you know formula one isn't football you don't change managers every six months like i don't like it's like a revolving door yeah i don't like it
22:40Jonathan Wheatley:I do agree with you. And if we're going to use the football club analogy and we're going to pinpoint Chelsea, if those listening didn't realise Will was coming for my club. But Lawrence Stroll, private equity. He doesn't have his own private equity company, but he's got so much money. He always has his own fund. And he's been responsible for some serious success away from F1. But these new owners, new changes, takes time. And look, it's not a new owner with Lawrence, but it's a whole load of change. But how much time do you have in F1? It's like how much time do you have in football?
23:14Adrian Newey:This is it. I know that Lawrence Stroll wants to see results and he wants to see them now. But turning things around in Formula One is like turning around a ship, you know, and you need that little tugboat at the front to pull it around and point it in the right direction. And that takes time. You cannot just shift things overnight. And I just feel like these constant changes every couple of months, it's not doing the overall culture of the team or the ultimate direction of travel any good at all because you don't have a clear focus on direction if you keep trying to change it. I just don't see how this benefits anything.
23:53Jonathan Wheatley:Just however, on that note, do we really feel like the weight of a team principal role at the likes of an Aston Martin team have that much weight on the situation? Or is that just a front-facing person for the team?
24:06Adrian Newey:Do you just need a yes man who will basically do whatever Lawrence Stroll wants them to do? You need a leader.
24:11Jonathan Wheatley:The team principal is a leader because Lawrence Stroll, as passionate as he is and as committed as he is, is not going to be there dealing with the operation of the team every day. He may be there writing the check if they need a big investment in a wind tunnel or most recently the new factory that they've built. But the team principal is the focal point of the technical department, not as a leader, but that's the person that's going to be headhunting, bringing you in, reassuring you the investments there, giving you that comfort that their role is going to be safe and secure and the long-term future is going to lead to success.
24:48Adrian Newey:But Lawrence has already said in his statement, we don't have a traditional team principle. Okay, well, if you don't have a traditional team principle, what do you have? What are you looking for? And if it's to be Jonathan, what role ultimately will he be taking?
24:59Jonathan Wheatley:Like a team manager on steroids, really.
25:01Adrian Newey:Yeah, is he a team manager?
25:03Jonathan Wheatley:From what we've discussed, Jonathan's not a yes man. You know, he's not going to fit that role that Lawrence might necessarily want. And he's seen enough of Jonathan. We've been speaking about his success over, you know, the decades of Formula One. So it's not like he's just coming to say yes, leaving a, you know, a good job at Audi. They are doing really well for the start of the season for a new team.
25:24Adrian Newey:Well, he took them to a podium last year. You look at how he influenced that culture, how he got them working on process, how he how he really regenerated and reinvigorated that team. He brought some mechanics from Red Bull Racing.
25:36Jonathan Wheatley:He got people to go and live in Switzerland, which is not the work of a moment. You know, people have families and that's why Britain has historically been the most popular destination for engineers because if they have families, then there's good schools and it's not maybe as isolated as some of the other Formula One teams there. So I think the role of the team principal is incredibly important. I totally agree with you that money does not buy you success. Otherwise, when Toyota came to Formula One, they would have won something. They didn't. Ferrari would be winning more often than they are because they've had bigger budgets prior to the budget cap.
26:12Jonathan Wheatley:You need team. You need a structure. Everyone needs to be aligned. You need a group of people that are willing to work together. It's like a relationship. It's like this relationship here. We have a willingness to be in the room together. From Naomi, who's doing remote. Well, look, I think one thing we can all agree on is that, you know, Newey sort of, shall we say in inverted commas, stepping back is not political. It's definitely practical because I think his value is best placed right now at the factory where a lot of hard work needs to be done. Now, over the weekend, before anyone was announced as TP or speculated as TP, we had our own speculation going on in our WhatsApp group, possibly a couple of bets here and there on who would replace Adrian in the position.
26:55Jonathan Wheatley:You know, Christian was mentioned. Shall we debate? Why did some of us think he would never be team principal there? And why did some of us think that he would?
27:02Adrian Newey:Yeah, I didn't see it happening. I think there's still a lot of water under a lot of bridges for Christian and Adrian to, you know, resolve before they'll work in that kind of a...
27:12Jonathan Wheatley:I think it's more Christian wants equity. He wants to be part of the DNA of the team beyond being what was his role at Rebel Racing. And that's his primary motivation right now. I don't think he would take a classic team principal role at Aston unless he was given a shareholder. Can we
27:33Adrian Newey:also move to get over the fascination with Christian Horner? Can we get over mentioning him every single week to do with every single potential job opportunity that's opened up in Formula 1? Let's give it to some new blood let's give it to some people who are coming through the ranks people like a Jonathan Wheatley who have proved themselves for 20-30 years and been given an opportunity. I love to see people like Alan Permain getting the opportunities I love to see Laurent Mechis getting the opportunities you know for too long Formula 1 we just keep going back to people who've been in this sport for 30, 40, 50 years let's give it to fresh blood, let's give new opportunities to people who've proved themselves and are deserving of a chance to step up and take on the main job DC for team principal you mentioned my countrymen so yeah because with all of this we haven't discussed what happens at Audi Mattia Binotto has been moved now into a singular team principal role at Audi, I believe they need somebody to replace Jonathan Wheatley and I believe they already have on their book somebody who could be either a team principal and let Mattia focus on the technical side as Adrian Newey's going to focus on the technical side.
28:33Adrian Newey:But Mattia's got a cracking
28:35Jonathan Wheatley:personality hasn't he?
28:36Adrian Newey:Sparkling personality, great pair of glasses great haircut but I think for me whether it's as a sporting director or as a team principal Audi already have the perfect man for the job and that is Alan McNish. Alan McNish for those who don't know, brilliant Formula 1 driver brilliant endurance racing driver won multiple times for Audi across the board in endurance racing was their team principal in Formula E and took them from a team that couldn't win a race to winning the title within a year he has a proven track record he is their young driver development coach at the moment heads up that program for Audi so he's already a part of the team and for me I think that Alan McNish would be able to slide straight into that role He is hugely respected and for good reason.
29:26Adrian Newey:And as DC mentions, he's part of the Scotia Nostra. They'll make you an offer you can't understand.
29:32Jonathan Wheatley:OK, guys, in the meantime, I've collected the receipts. Now, I will caveat this with the fact that I'm not going to release all of the receipts because our WhatsApp group chat is supposed to be a safe space. Yes, it is a safe space. It's not necessarily to be impromptu aired on the pod, but we will give away a bit of information. our producer said Horner to Aston Martin question mark to which DC said okay kids you're going to have to wait for Christmas to open your presents have some patience thumbs up probably thumbs up emoji
30:01Adrian Newey:no DC didn't sign that one off and if I recall you actually pulled him up on not signing it off but yeah a fascinating
30:08Jonathan Wheatley:I was writing a bicycle at the time of texting which I don't recommend by the way
30:13Adrian Newey:it's absolutely fascinating and you know two big teams with a lot to prove. Two huge brands in Aston Martin and Audi, both now on uncertain footing and with an uncertain future. And again, when we've said this, after two races, this feels, it's incredibly rare and incredibly strange that this kind of thing happens in Formula One. This isn't football, you know? Stability, long-termism has always been the watchword in Formula One. And this is absolutely not that.
30:48Jonathan Wheatley:okay everyone are you following us on socials if you're not head over to your social media platforms and follow us on at up to speed show make sure you comment like and subscribe so that we stay in touch with you guys we want to be interacting with you all and make sure you stick around because in just a while we're going to have a question from actor danny dyer hello jolly naomi will and the dc it's your mate here danny dyer and i want to ask you a Question. What is your all-time favourite F1 moment?
31:22Adrian Newey:I love that man. I genuinely love that man. Great accent. Great accent. Great actor. Great accent. He's a West Ham fan. Sorry, Jolie. He is. He loves his, I think he loves his son-in-law more than he loves his daughter. I absolutely love that. I used to remember him from Human Traffic. Great film. Great actor. Shall we answer his question? Let's answer his question.
31:44Jonathan Wheatley:so favourite F1 moments I always go back to my childhood and the moments where as a kid through the idiot box watching this amazing world and it would be things and I think very much was Japan in my mind I think when Senna went down the inside of Prost they came together and it was like what is going on and closely followed by Ayrton Senna when he was lining up on the grid alongside Alan Prost who's now at Ferrari and he was really unhappy that the governing body had put pole position on the inside rather than the outside. And he said, well, if I lose the lead of which Ayrton was on pole position before the first corner, he said, neither Alan or I are coming out of that corner.
32:25Jonathan Wheatley:He lost the lead and then rammed into the side of Prost. They both crashed out and we all went, well, he did warn us. And you know what the governing body did? Absolutely nothing.
32:36Adrian Newey:And it's happened immediately.
32:39Jonathan Wheatley:One of the great commentary lines. you get locked up for doing that.
32:43Adrian Newey:Yeah, I think those moments from childhood they always stick with you.
32:46Jonathan Wheatley:Is your Daniel Ricciardo involved in some way?
32:48Adrian Newey:It's got to be something to do with Daniel Ricciardo.
32:51Jonathan Wheatley:I loved, quite niche, when Hülkenberg got podium at Silverstone last year. I just thought it was a really special moment. I wouldn't say it's my all-time favourite, a fun moment, which I know was the question. Was Daniel Ricciardo winning and drinking from his shoe, probably? Look, the shoe was iconic, but I'm trying to think of a singular moment that didn't just make me happy, but made the sport happy. And obviously, I mean, this is, I think, too recent to be my all-time favourite, but Kimi, the whole sport, loved him winning.
33:21Adrian Newey:Raikkonen or Antonelli?
33:22Jonathan Wheatley:Kimi Antonelli. He was so good, they named him twice, as we know in China. He got his real name and he got Raikkonen's name as he entered the podium.
33:29Adrian Newey:So the memories from childhood are always the strong ones. I remember Damon Hill winning the title in 96 was very, very emotional for British people. Murray Walker again. Yeah, Murray. Just that legendary country. I have to stop because I've got a lump in my throat. That was beautiful. From races that I've been at and sort of professionally, Lewis winning his first title was incredible because we're up in this media center and the rain has literally been pouring in through the ceiling all through the race. And half the media center jump out of their chairs when Felipe crosses the line and they're celebrating Felipe Massa, world champion.
34:08Adrian Newey:and then Lewis makes the move into Yun Sao, bottom of the hill, takes the position and we're kind of looking at the screens being like, was that what we thought it was? And gets to the line and we're watching the timing screens and he just goes, boop, up that one position that he needed to to win the title. The other half of the media centre leap out of their chairs and are celebrating. And then you suddenly realise, oh God, he's not on the podium. He's not going to be in the press conference. We've got to get them. So everyone just descends out of the media centre, runs downstairs, tries to get into the garage to get the interviews done and all that.
34:41Adrian Newey:It's tight in Brazil as well. It's so tight. And honestly, it was just such a thing to be a part of. And it was just absolutely amazing. So for me, that was one of the best personal memories. But also I just think in terms of, come on, last corner, last lap, last race of the season, wins it, one point. I mean, just like chills down your back. It was incredible. You could use that as a script for a movie. I know, right? Why didn't they? Yeah. Well, they might do in F2. Will they call it F2? No. You'll know before us. As the movies go on.
35:17Jonathan Wheatley:You're the one in it. We didn't get the cool up.
35:19Adrian Newey:As the movies go on, it just progressively goes down the ladder of competitiveness from F1 to F2 to F3.
35:26Jonathan Wheatley:Actually, on the credits, does it say Will Buxton as himself?
35:30Adrian Newey:I think it does, yeah. Consultant and as himself.
35:33Jonathan Wheatley:He thinks he does. then he goes on to read his full name title.
35:36Adrian Newey:Whatever's on IMDB. Exactly that.
35:39Jonathan Wheatley:Well, Naomi, what's your favourite? Yeah, I don't know. I'm not really one of those who has like a list of favourites. I always get caught up when I get asked questions like, what's your favourite song or whatever. I'm not just a fan of answering those kind of questions. But I think I'll stick to the nostalgia of what you will and DC. Any of mine? I believe. That's too much of a choose. I think I'll probably stick to what Will and DC sort of were saying in terms of nostalgia. 2007, I should say, was the year that I started racing. And obviously it was Lewis's first season in Formula One. But it was also quite a dramatic season.
36:11Jonathan Wheatley:I mean, all the action between him and his teammate Fernando going toe to toe and getting pretty vicious at times. And then obviously at the end of the season, there was that comeback from Kimi to win his title. Yeah, I think that for me stands out as a season to me, of course, because it was the first one I properly watched. Yeah, so I think that's one that I'll probably never forget. Well what lovely memories we all have And let us know yours on our socials At UpToSpeedShow Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, leave a review And never miss an episode We'll be back after the Japanese Grand Prix To talk about it all, give a little recap on Monday So we'll see you then
36:49Adrian Newey:This has been a Global Player Original Production
From the publisher
We're only a few races into the season and the F1 team bosses are already playing musical chairs! Our WhatsApp chat was popping off when F1's best ever car designer, Adrian Newey, stepped down as Aston Martin team principle, then Audi team principle Jonathan Wheatley suddenly left the team.
Would a man like Wheatley fit in at Aston Martin under Laurence Stroll? Why would anyone want to take that job with drivers complaining of nerve damage? And was Christian Horner ever an option or should we stop talking about him?
Plus we react to viral videos of Max Verstappen racing in GT3 at the Nordschleife, and we share our best F1 memory thanks to a question from actor Danny Dyer.
Up To Speed is a Global production, available every Monday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Send in your questions!
Socials & YouTube: @uptospeedshow
Email: uptospeed@global.com
Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides
Producer: Sophie Penney
Video Content Producer: Arvind Badewal
Head of Video for Podcasts: Samson Falodun
Director of Podcasts: Vicky Etchells