Hi friends
Happy Summer Shutdown. But luckily no F1 doesn’t mean no racing at all – there are plenty of sports car races to jump into, for example the IMSA Sportscar Weekend at Road America which should be fun. And despite it being the shutdown period, we’ll have plenty of news – don’t worry about that.
Top story of the week: Jonathan Wheatley is leaving Red Bull to become the Team Principal of Audi
It was a close run for top story of the week between two new TPs: Oli Oakes and Jonathan Wheatley. In the end the bigger story this week is Wheatley’s departure from Red Bull. And we’ll get to talk more about Oakes when Alpine finally announce they’re moving away from Renault engines.
Why is this important? Wheatley has been with Red Bull for 18 years, since 2006, and is in many ways the embodiment of the team. He joined the team just a year into their existence, and has been with them for every single one of their championships. Along with the departure of Newey, Red Bull are losing two very important figures, which will change how things operate. And at a time where they seem to be under increasing pressure from both McLaren and Mercedes, these kind of staff changes are not exactly what they need.
Wheatley is moving to Audi from 2025 to become their new TP. A positive move for the new Sauber owners, especially on the back of Sainz electing to go to Williams over them. They need a bit of good press, and more importantly, someone who can steer the team back in the right direction.
The rest of the stories this week:
- Carlos Sainz signs with Williams from 2025 on a multi-year deal
- Alpine announce Oliver Oakes, Hitech GP owner and former Team Principal, as their new TP
- The Renault engine factory staff in Viry-Châtillon threaten strikes if Alpine switches to Mercedes engines
- Former Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer involved in unnamed US-based F1 project
- Red Bull elect not to make any drivers changes… For now…
- Jack Doohan close to signing with Alpine for 2025
- The F1 Commision has discussed a ‘post-season young driver race’
- Jamie Chadwick will test with Andretti in IndyCar
- Zane Maloney will test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan in IndyCar
- Zandvoort CEO Robert van Overdijk denies rumours that Spa and Zandvoort would rotate on the calendar from 2025
- Ferrari rules out running their 499P Hypercar in IMSA next year
- BBS Autotechnik, manufacturers of wheels for many different car makes, have filed for insolvency (Note: BBS Autotechnik is not the company producing the rims for F1 and NASCAR. That is BBS Japan, who are unaffected)
- Fanatec owner, Endor AG, files for insolvency
- The FIA have released the 7th edition of the 2024 F1 Sporting Regulations
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
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