Mar.20 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has forged doubt on studies that Aston Martin is ready to put in Jonathan Wheatley as crew principal amid its ongoing Honda-era catastrophe.
“That’s virtually unimaginable,” the previous F1 supremo informed Blick of the reported transfer.
“It might solely make sense if he didn’t prefer it in Switzerland and wished to return to England.”
A number of authoritative studies counsel Aston Martin is certainly exploring a management reshuffle that will see Adrian Newey step again from the crew principal function to concentrate on technical duties, with new Audi crew boss Wheatley recognized as the popular substitute.
The transfer would reunite Wheatley with Newey, combining the latter’s technical brilliance with a extra conventional administration determine – an space the place the 67-year-old Briton is much less skilled.
Nonetheless, the state of affairs is sophisticated by the actual fact Wheatley solely not too long ago joined Audi and is known to be on a powerful long-term contract, with negotiations now reportedly centred on potential exit phrases and a probable prolonged interval of gardening go away.
Audi is claimed to be sad with the state of affairs, though it stopped in need of issuing a denial.
“We have now taken notice of the latest media studies,” a spokesperson stated.
“At the moment, we have now no official replace on the matter. We don’t touch upon hypothesis.”
Aston Martin, in the meantime, has additionally issued a cautious response, publicly backing Newey whereas declining to have interaction with the studies.
“We’re conscious of the media hypothesis. There aren’t any official updates from us presently, and we don’t touch upon rumours,” the crew stated.
“We absolutely assist Adrian Newey as Managing Technical Accomplice and Workforce Principal.”
Aston Martin added that Newey “continues to guide the crew, combining his tasks” in each roles.
