Start date and first race confirmed for Sauber’s new F1 boss

Jonathan Wheatley will start work as Sauber’s new F1 team principal on 1 April, with his first appearance at the track set to come in Japan.

Last August it was announced that Wheatley would leave his role as Red Bull sporting director to become team principal of the soon-to-be Audi F1 team.

At the time a start date was not formalised, with Sauber saying Wheatley would join “by July 2025 at the latest” following a period of gardening leave.

But in a boost for the Hinwil-based squad, Wheatley will now take up his position from April 1, enabling him to start work sooner than initially anticipated.

Sauber have also confirmed that he will make his race debut as team principal at the Japanese Grand Prix, the third round of the 2025 world championship on 6 April.

German car giant Audi have taken over the Swiss-based Sauber operation and will officially enter the sport with their own car and engine in 2026.

Wheatley will be tasked with jointly leading the management team at Sauber alongside chief operating officer and chief technical officer Mattia Binotto.

Both Wheatley and Binotto will report directly to Gernot Döllner in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sauber Motorsport AG.

According to Sauber, the team structure in place “empowers both leaders with clearly defined roles and deliverables”.

It had emerged at the start of the year that Sauber was set to get hold of Wheatley earlier than originally planned after an arrangement was reached with Red Bull.

In January, Sauber also confirmed that team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi would depart the squad. The Italian has since joined McLaren as chief business affairs officer.