F1 NEWS: Ex-Red Bull Executive Suggests Team made HUGE Wrong C…read more
F1 NEWS: Ex-Red Bull Executive Suggests Team made HUGE Wrong C…read more
Former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has hinted that his former team may have made a misjudgment in handling Max Verstappen’s penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Now leading Sauber as team principal, Wheatley departed Red Bull during the 2024 season amid a wave of high-profile exits, including that of design guru Adrian Newey. With Sauber preparing to become Audi in 2026, Wheatley now finds himself in a pivotal role during a transformative period.
Speaking after the race in Jeddah, Wheatley addressed the incident where Verstappen was penalized five seconds for running off at Turn 1 and maintaining the lead over Oscar Piastri. Although Verstappen did not relinquish the position and was sanctioned by stewards, Wheatley indicated he would have approached the situation differently.
“I know what I would’ve done,” Wheatley said. “I think we would’ve taken a different path. I’m not here to critique what others did, but if it were my team, we definitely would’ve discussed an alternative course of action.”
The five-second penalty, deemed lenient by some, still impacted Verstappen’s chances of victory, allowing Piastri to claim the win and jump to the top of the championship standings.
Wheatley also compared the incident to a previous clash between Verstappen and Lando Norris at the 2024 US Grand Prix, where Norris received a similar penalty, reinforcing the ongoing debate around racing rules and consistency.
His comments add weight to the criticism Red Bull has faced in recent weeks, now fueled further by the insights of a key former insider.
