The Undeclared War: Audi Vs Aston Martin Vs Red Bull Vs McLaren
In the aftermath of the opening three Grand Prix of the 2026 Formula 1 Season, a fascinating narrative that has the potential to play out into the new era of the sport has emerged. At the heart of it are four of the biggest teams competing in the pinnacle of motorsport - Audi, Aston Martin, Red Bull and McLaren.
To understand this and what may yet come, let’s start with Audi. A fresh entry into Formula 1, the German manufacturer took over the Sauber team following the conclusion of the 2025 Season. While the existing infrastructure, including the majority of the individuals working for the team were still in place, Audi’s takeover wasn’t as simple or straightforward as slapping a new coat of paint onto everything as part of a quick rebrand. With the introduction of a brand new set of radical regulations, there was enough of a challenge in the development of Audi’s first Formula 1 car alone - particularly as they had opted to create their own power unit, instead of buying one from one of the other manufacturers such as Mercedes in the case of Alpine or Ferrari in the case of the other newcomers to the grid, Cadillac.
In pre-season testing, Audi quietly went about their business, as they have consistently done since their announcement a few years ago that they would be entering the sport. While they didn’t set the world alight with their performances in Barcelona and Bahrain, nor did they have any headline grabbing cataclysmically bad issues either. For them to have essentially appeared to have simply picked up where Sauber left off and built from there is more impressive than the team is getting credit for. The classic image of a duck moving swiftly over a quiet lake comes to mind. Everything appears calm from above but underneath, the feet are moving at a million miles an hour to make everything above look effortless.
Image credit: Audi F1 Media Centre
That’s not to say Audi hasn't had problems. Two DNSs, one apiece for each of their drivers in the opening two rounds, isn’t what the team would have wanted. But neither issue appears to have pointed to anything fundamentally wrong with the car and despite these issues, they have already collected two points for their tally in the Constructor’s Standings and qualify closer to the top of the field than the rear. Their driver development program has been a success too with the additions of Freddie Slater and Emma Felbermayr in Formula 3 and F1 Academy respectively. A podium for the former in the opening round in Melbourne puts Slater third overall in the standings, just seven points away from the lead. For Felbermayr, two back to back podiums in China across F1 Academy’s first weekend back on track places her at the top of the Driver’s Championship with a six point lead over second place. It’s fair to say that things were looking pretty solid.
It came as quite a shock then when after only the second race of the season, Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley, formerly the sporting director of Red Bull, departed the team with immediate effect.
“Due to personal reasons, Jonathan Wheatley will depart the team with immediate effect. The team thanks Jonathan for his contribution to the project and wishes him the best for his future endeavors.”
Mattia Binotto has taken over since then, having been in the role initially before Wheatley originally joined the team. It’s come as a surprise that Audi haven’t looked to immediately replace Wheatley, though rumours have swirled inside the paddock about who could replace him - but more on that later. Since the Japanese Grand Prix however, Binotto has thrown another twist into the Audi tale about the team’s intentions moving forwards.
“For the future, I think we are not looking for a new team principal...I will keep the role, but I will need someone to support me at the race weekends because I will not be always at the race weekend myself. I need to focus most at the factory where there is the most to transform – I would say, not only to develop, to transform...So certainly a support at the race weekend is required.”
While personal reasons were cited in Audi’s statement regarding Wheatley’s departure, always a vague and often used reasoning to hide the real reason, there was talk about Wheatley and Binotto clashing over how to run the team. Could this have contributed to Wheatley’s departure? If so, it lends credibility to one of the other unconfirmed stories swirling around the paddock - that when Jonathan Wheatley returns from mandatory gardening leave, he’ll be teaming up with Aston Martin.
As early as the Australian Grand Prix, there was talk of Lawrence Stroll having approached Wheatley about a role at the team - that of Team Principal where Wheatley would replace Adrian Newey so that the legendary designer could focus on developing (and fixing) the AMR 26. If Wheatley was being made to feel that he was surplus to requirements at Audi, it would make sense how, despite their monumental issues that includes having trouble simply finishing a Grand Prix, Aston Martin were able to court Wheatley. This notion, combined with Aston Martin being based in the UK and not abroad as Audi is, would appeal to Wheatley so that he could spend more time with his family. If the move happens, it puts Wheatley back under the same roof as his former teammate Adrian Newey as the pair attempt to replicate the success they were both partly responsible for during Red Bull’s dominant years.
But such a simple explanation for a move from one team to another doesn’t seem to fully satisfy the wider world of Formula 1. If the personal reasons that Wheatley had for leaving Audi are that he and Binotto didn’t get along, it reflects badly on both of them for not being able to work out a solution that works for them and the team, given that this isn’t a small local racing team they’re in charge of - but a team in a sport worth billions where friction can be, and is commonplace, but success is expected anyway. It potentially reflects badly on Audi too. They may have acted swiftly to try and keep him but at the time of writing, these are simply details that we are not privy to. But on the face of it, moving from a new team firmly looking to be fighting regularly in the mid-field with points already to their name to a team that looks set to dominate the rear of the field in 2026 is baffling. Sure, Aston Martin have resources that would make others weep but if the last few seasons have proven anything, it’s that throwing billions at your problems won’t make them go away and development will be much slower than anyone would have hoped. As good a Team Principal as Wheatley might be, Aston Martin’s woes won’t be fixed overnight and the challenge to get just to the back of the rest of the field, nevermind any higher than that, appears a much more ambitious notion than helping Audi to build on their solid foundations.
For Audi, their task is to prove that either they can manage perfectly fine without Wheatley - as was aptly demonstrated across the Japanese Grand Prix weekend - or to find a replacement. One contender for that role is Christian Horner. Ousted from Red Bull after the British Grand Prix last season with immediate effect, Horner himself has said that he feels as if he has unfinished business with Formula 1. While not a figure without controversy off track, his record on track at Red Bull over the last two decades is undeniable. Horner was at the helm when Red Bull won both their first Driver’s Title, with Sebatian Vettel, and their first Constructor’s Championship. Three more for both team and driver followed in quick succession. Even during the dominant years of Mercedes, Red Bull were always in the mix too, thanks largely to Daniel Ricciardo. Then came the rise of Max Verstappen and after his first World Championship in 2021, he added three more to his name in the same way that Vettel had. Red Bull picked up an additional two Constructor's titles for their efforts too.
On that basis alone, it’s not difficult to see why the prospect of Horner at the helm is an appealing prospect for a titan in the making such as Audi. Even if he were to join in a supporting role in the way in which Binotto alluded to in his comments, it would still be beneficial for the team. His appointment would then also create a natural rivalry between Audi and Aston Martin as both teams would be led, at least in part, by ex-comrades from Red Bull who have seen their relationships diminish with one another since their heydays, now duking it out to see who can get back to the top first.
That’s then where Red Bull comes into the picture. Now led by former Racing Bulls front man Laurent Mekies, the team is very much in a period of rebirth. The team is not what it once was. Dietrich Mateschitz is dead. Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley both left the team with Christian Horner sacked as mentioned. Helmut Marko too has departed from the outfit and of the team that formed their most recent run of success, only Max Verstappen remains as the leading figure from that era. Now partnered with Isack Hadjar and supported at Racing Bulls by the exciting talent that is Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, Red Bull is in a period of re-establishing itself. Their start to the 2026 season has also been fraught with issues - though thankfully not as bad as Aston Martin’s. Two DNFs from three races and a highest finishing position of sixth place for either driver, in this case Verstappen, leaves them behind Haas and Alpine in the Constructor’s Standings and only marginally ahead of their sister team, Racing Bulls. Verstappen has been vocal about his opinions of both the car and the new style of racing seen in Formula 1. As was the case at the start of last season, there’s talk of him leaving Red Bull and possibly Formula 1 entirely.
Red Bulls’ primary objective then is to fix the car. If they fix the car, there’s less of a chance that Verstappen leaves, either the team or the sport. If he leaves the team then both Audi and Aston Martin are on the table as options for where he could land. If either Audi or Aston Martin can convince him, either with the performance of their own car or financially, which both are capable of, then you wouldn’t want to dismiss either option so quickly. With or without Verstappen, Red Bull must prove that their success was not solely dependent on the leading figures that have since departed. Staying ahead of Audi and Aston Martin at the very least is paramount to that.
For Audi and Aston Martin, it gives both teams a target to aim for, aside from each other, and would make for an excellent scalp for them to add to their collection. The added bonus would also come for Horner, Newey and Wheatley at having beaten their former teams and those in charge of them.
Image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Enter McLaren. Gianpiero Lambiase (Max Verstappen’s Race Engineer) is set to leave Red Bull in 2028 and to move to McLaren no later than 2028. The news represents the latest domino to fall in the saga of Red Bull’s paradigm shift. This time though, they’ve been given plenty of notice about it - but it may hint at Verstappen’s place in all of this moving forwards too. Like Audi and Aston Martin, McLaren would now be on the table for Verstappen in a more concrete way than it was before. The Dutchman could also leave the sport before then, only to return when Lambiase makes the move to McLaren, should Verstappen be amenable to what the Papaya outfit are offering both on and off track. Regardless, Red Bull now have to face a scenario where they become born again given the choice between that or vanishing from existence. With the team in such a period of flux, could it even be a consideration that another entity takes over the team entirely, thus removing Red Bull from the Formula 1 equation completely?
Now, all of this may never materialize and will instead simply exist in an alternate timeline but as we whittle away the time in this Spring Break period ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in May, it’s an intriguing thought exercise worth considering. At the very least, the inter-team battle between all four moving forwards will be fascinating to watch, regardless of whether Horner returns to the fray or not and what Verstappen decides about his future. The sad part is that at best, the three wannabe goliaths will be battling over their place in the midfield, rather than taking the fight to the true titans of Formula 1 so far this year of Mercedes and Ferrari while McLaren straddle the line between the two as they attempt to keep Haas and Alpine at bay. But something about this entire prospect gives the impression that it’s a fight that could span many more seasons to come. This may be just the beginning.