Jonathan Wheatley, the boss of the Audi Formula 1 team, has done what every ambitious team principal eventually does: he has publicly declared his desire to sign Max Verstappen. It’s practically an F1 rite of passage at this point; some teams christen their wind tunnel; Audi simply says, ‘We want Max.’
Unfortunately for Wheatley, wanting Verstappen and actually getting him are two different things entirely. The former involves wishful thinking, while the latter requires an engineering miracle, a blank cheque and perhaps even a planetary alignment.
Nevertheless, Wheatley gave it his best shot at an Audi event in Munich. “Yes, I want Max Verstappen to drive our car,” he told De Telegraaf, presumably while every journalist in the room nodded politely, thinking, “Sure, mate, get in line.”
To Wheatley’s credit, however, he added a dose of realism: “I don’t think that’s enough at the moment to directly link Verstappen to a Formula 1 seat at Audi”
The Verstappen Problem: Everyone Wants Him
Verstappen’s status is clear: he is the world’s best racing driver, and every team principal would gladly hand over their office, motorhome and possibly even their eldest child to secure his services. He’s young, absurdly fast, and he has won so many trophies that he needs his own carry-on baggage allowance after a Grand Prix weekend.
Mercedes want him. Aston Martin want him. Red Bull would like to keep him. Now Audi has joined the party.
However, Wheatley does have one trump card: he’s friends with Max, Max’s father Jos, and Max’s manager, Raymond. However, Formula 1 isn’t the kind of sport where you secure a four-time world champion through group chats and nostalgic stories about karting days. Friendship might get you a response to your WhatsApp message, but it won’t secure Verstappen a place in a midfield car.
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Audi’s reality check
Audi’s debut as a works team is fast approaching, and right now, the organisation still has a faint whiff of ‘project in progress’. The current Sauber operation sits in ninth place. While this is perfectly respectable in a school exam, it’s less ideal for recruiting the best driver on the planet.
Wheatley knows it.
He admits that the team simply isn’t ready to impress Verstappen, at least not yet. The workforce, the structure and the championship-fighting DNA all still need refining. “If someone misses a race for whatever reason,” he said, “there has to be another equally talented person ready to step in.”
Which is a polite way of saying: ‘We cannot be the team where the whole garage collapses because one mechanic gets the flu.’
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The Grand Plan: Beat everybody… eventually
Despite the growing pains, Audi’s ambition remains enormous. Wheatley has his sights set firmly on the heavyweights: McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. These are all teams with decades of experience, legendary success and payrolls that probably include more aerodynamicists than Audi currently has chairs for.
‘I’m not saying we don’t have that,’ Wheatley clarified diplomatically, ‘but we have yet to reach that level.’
The goal? To fight for the 2030 world title. Bold? Yes. Impossible? Not according to Wheatley. Audi are investing heavily, building big and dreaming even bigger.
Whether or not Verstappen will feature in that dream remains to be seen; likely a story written by a Hollywood screenwriter rather than an F1 journalist.
But for now, Wheatley has said the quiet part out loud: he wants Max. And really, who wouldn’t?
NEXT ARTICLE: Red Bull tight lipped over “mystery” Honda engine upgrade
Red Bull’s weekend in Brazil may have looked like a glorious recovery drive on TV, but behind the scenes, there are repercussions. And while Laurent Mekies refused to spill the beans on just how much pace Max Verstappen’s new Honda unit delivered, he made one thing very clear in Sao Paulo: the 2025 grid is now so compressed that “everythingx… is important.”
No kidding.
The timing couldn’t be more convenient — or more suspicious — as McLaren has already been peering over the fence wondering whether this shiny new power unit counts toward Red Bull’s cost-cap spend. The Race even reported that McLaren brought the issue up directly during Friday’s F1 Commission meeting. A gentle nudge? Hardly. More like a raised eyebrow and a sharpened pencil.
A shambles on Saturday, a miracle on Sunday
Red Bull’s qualifying implosion at Interlagos set the stage: Verstappen and Tsunoda dumped out in Q1 the first time both Red Bulls have failed to make Q2 since Japan 2006. ,The RB21 looked allergic to grip. Cue a Saturday night rebuild, a setup reset, and — just to spice things up — a brand new power unit. Parc fermé? Broken. Starting from the pit lane? Accepted.
What followed was Verstappen doing Verstappen things, dragging the car to P3 in a race that shouldn’t have offered him a sniff of the podium. But the engine change raised an obvious question: what’s the price tag, and where does it sit on the FIA accountant’s spreadsheet?
Red Bull have continued developing the RB21 long after their rivals, throwing the kitchen sink at a last gasp effort to gain Verstappen that record consecutive five driver titles – only achieved by Michael Schumacher. However, McLaren cried foul as their team boss Andrea Stella questioned whether the new $5m power unit wold be included in the cost cap.
“These kind of power unit changes challenge the regulations,” he said in Brazil, choosing his words with surgical precision. He went further, asking the very question Red Bull hoped nobody would say out loud: “I will be interested in understanding if the cost of this engine now goes in the cost cap or not. If the engine was changed for performance reasons, it should go in the cost cap.” READ MORE ON THIS STORY
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
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