Aston Martin’s 2026 woes laid bare as Karun Chandhok questions Jonathan Wheatley fix

Former Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok has argued that former Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley is not the answer to Aston Martin's problems. 

Audi confirmed on 20 March 2026 that Wheatley was to leave with immediate effect after only joining the team in 2025. While Wheatley has not officially confirmed what his next move will be, Motorsport.com understands he will sign with Aston Martin as team principal.

While discussing the Silverstone outfit's 2026 troubles on the Sky Sports F1 Show, Chandhok explained that he didn't think Wheatley was the person to solve its technical issues. 

Aston Martin has encountered major issues in 2026, including with its new Honda power unit. 

"It sounds like there's a bit of limbo," Chandhok said. "There are certainly some rumours around Aston Martin, between China and Japan. It just seemed like an obvious thing because Adrian was filling that role as a somewhat interim position.

"But clearly it's not a done deal. If it was, it would have been announced. I think there's still a lot of movement going on in where Jonathan lands. What I'm fairly confident is that we haven't seen the last of Jonathan Wheatley in the paddock.

"He's an absolute paddock lifer. He's been there since the early '90s. He's not done with Formula 1. So, it won't be long before he reemerges, but I think the challenge is, will he now reemerge and find a position of seniority that he thinks is deserving of his recent past because he's now been team principal.

Jonathan Wheatley, Audi F1 Team Principal

Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images

"It's quite hard to take a step down from that, isn't it? You've been in the top job, and there are only 11 of them on the grid. How does that work? Honestly though, Aston, they've got bigger problems than the team principal as well."

He added: "Disappointing is not the word, is it? It's just been embarrassing how far off the pace that whole package has been due to the issues from the Honda side, of course.

"I think the team principal is the least of the issues. They need somebody to resolve the technical issue, and I don't think Jonathan's necessarily the person for that. They need engine people sitting in Sakura to try and dig them out of this hole."