Whitley: Pressing — a source of positive energy

      Jonathan Wheatley insists that the pressure he inevitably feels in his role as head of Sauber has an exclusively positive effect on the process of transforming the Swiss team into Audi's works project. Wheatley, formerly the sporting director of Red Bull Racing, started his new job in April, and began his Formula 1 career back in 1991 as a simple mechanic at Benetton, so he knows perfectly well what the world of motorsport is and by what rules it lives. Having become the head of the Hinwil team, Wheatley, he says, has felt a new surge of energy, and together with Mattia Binotto, who leads the Audi project, has been able to achieve a noticeable improvement in results: it is enough to say that Sauber’s drivers have scored points in the last six Grands Prix in a row, and at Silverstone Nico Hülkenberg climbed onto the podium. When Wheatley was asked whether he feels the pressure increasing as the day when Sauber turns into Audi F1 approaches, the British specialist replied: “I don’t think so — I suppose all of this is taken for granted. I’m quite comfortable in the role I’m currently performing, because it opens up great opportunities. I’m excited about our project. Pressure is just part of my job, and it has been that way for the past three decades. I’ve learned to use it to my advantage; it becomes a source of positive energy. I hope it will be the same next year. My task is to merge with the team, to fully immerse myself in this environment. You have to be able to hear everything others are saying, try to understand the logic of various decisions and processes. When you move from one team to another, it very rarely works to transfer previous experience wholesale to new situations — it just doesn’t work that way. But you can bring your ideology and your culture, and those are the most obvious aspects. We mustn’t forget that we have a very young group, since many employees only joined the team last winter, and the adaptation processes that will allow everyone to work together are still ongoing. This job really excites me — we are moving forward, gradually building momentum, because in our business the most important thing is to reach the required level.” After the first 14 rounds of the season Sauber sits seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, but Aston Martin leads them by just one point, and the Racing Bulls trail the Swiss team by six points, so the picture could change one way or another in the first races after the summer break.