After the shock announcement that Jonathan Wheatley had left his function as Audi Formulation 1 workforce principal with speedy impact on 20 March, former F1 TV pundit Will Buxton has thrown his weight behind Allan McNish to take the Briton’s place.
Whereas head of Audi F1 venture Mattia Binotto has assumed the tasks of workforce principal within the meantime, Buxton argued that the German outfit would not need to look far for the ‘ultimate’ candidate.
“Mattia Binotto has been moved now right into a singular workforce principal function at Audi,” Buxton mentioned in the course of the Up To Velocity podcast.
“I consider they want any individual to switch Jonathan Wheatley, and I consider they have already got on their ebook any individual who may very well be both a workforce principal and let Mattia deal with the technical facet, as Adrian Newey goes to deal with the technical facet at Aston Martin.
“Whether or not it is as a sporting director or as a workforce principal, Audi have already got the right man for the job and that’s Allan McNish. For many who do not know, he is an excellent Formulation 1 driver, an excellent endurance racing driver, gained a number of occasions for Audi throughout the board in endurance racing, was their workforce principal in Formulation E and took them from a workforce that could not win a race to profitable the title inside a yr.
Allan McNish, Director of Coordination, Audi Group
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photographs
“He has a confirmed observe report. He’s their younger driver growth coach in the intervening time, heads up that programme for Audi, so he is already part of the workforce. And for me, I feel that Allan McNish would have the ability to slide straight into that function. He’s massively revered and for good motive.”
McNish raced in F1 in 2002 with Toyota. He additionally competed within the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1997 to 2000 and once more from 2004 to 2013, the American Le Mans Sequence and the World Endurance Championship.
Apart from racing, the 56-year-old has served because the drivers’ consultant on the F1 stewards panel, commentator and pundit for BBC Sport’s F1 protection, workforce principal for the Audi Formulation E workforce and the director of Audi’s growth driver programme.
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