Audi F1 team names sportscar great Allan McNish as racing director after turbulent start to 2026

HINWIL, Switzerland — Audi has named one of its most successful endurance drivers as the new racing director of its Formula 1 team following the sudden exit of former team principal Jonathan Wheatley.

Audi said Allan McNish “will take on responsibility for coordinating all trackside operations” from next week's Miami Grand Prix, including race strategy and managing drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

McNish reports to team principal Mattia Binotto, who stepped back into that role when Wheatley suddenly left for what the team called personal reasons two races into the 2026 season, Audi's first since rebranding from Sauber.

That followed reports Aston Martin was interested in signing Wheatley as it tries to turn around its disastrous start to the new era of F1 regulations.

McNish moves into his new role after a sometimes-troubled start to 2026 for Audi, which is making its own F1 engines for the first time.

Bortoleto scored the team's only points with ninth place at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix but he and Hülkenberg have each only started two of the three Grands Prix because of reliability issues.

McNish only spent one unsuccessful season with the then-new Toyota team in 2002 but he made his mark with Audi's all-conquering sportscar racing program.

He won the Le Mans 24-hour race three times, the Sebring 12-hour race four times and the World Endurance Championship once. He had been with Audi's F1 team overseeing its driver development program and will keep those responsibilities in his new post.