Nico Hülkenberg welcomes Allan McNish as Audi’s F1 Racing Director to aide Mattia Binotto, as Gabriel Bortoleto reveals deeper relationship.
Amid rumours of Jonathan Wheatley leaving the team principal role at Audi, the news was eventually confirmed between the F1 races in China and Japan. He cited personal reasons for leaving the post, as reports linked him to be joining Aston Martin.
McNish given added responsibility of Audi F1 Racing Director
In the meantime, Binotto assume Wheatley’s responsibilities in Japan and hinted about an appointment to help him during F1 race weekends, not necessarily in a regular team principal role. In the break between Japan and Miami, Audi announced McNish as its racing director.
The former Toyota F1 racer was already handling Audi’s driver development programme. Now, he will undertake the race director role, reporting to Binotto. The experienced campaigner was a no brainer for Audi to promote, considering his long-term commitment with the brand.
Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto welcome Allan McNish
He also led Audi to a successful run in Formula E. He was welcomed by the German manufacturer drivers Hülkenberg and Bortoleto, when both were asked on Thursday in Miami. They alluded to the fact that McNish was already working behind the scenes on the F1 project.
“Yeah, I mean, Allan’s been with the brand, with Audi, for I don’t know how long, but a very long time,” said Hülkenberg in the press conference. “He’s been with us inside the F1 project and team from the beginning, the get-go.
“Obviously ex-driver, even F1 experience, a lot of F1 and motor sport experience, so a very fitting role and I look forward to working with him closely together,” summed up Hülkenberg, as Audi F1 teammate Bortoleto concurred when speaking separately in a print media session in the motorhome.
Bortoleto reiterates Binotto’s words
“I mean, Allan is very experienced as a racing driver, very victorious in his career,” said Bortoleto. “He has been part of Audi in Formula E, so he has been very successful there as well. And now he is taking over a new role that I think he is very capable of doing an incredible job there.
“I think I have been in touch with Allan for a long time already. We know each other for many years. We live close to each other in Monaco, so we are often having lunch or dinner together. So we always have some chats. I don’t think it will change anything, because now he is the racing director.
“Our relationship, my questions, my advices sometimes I ask him are going to be the same,” summed up Bortoleto, who reiterated Binotto’s words about working as a tight team, where if any individual leaves, it doesn’t affect the long-term vision of Audi F1 Team.
Bortoleto’s relation with McNish goes beyond racing
“Hopefully, he can fit inside the team that I think so far he has been fitting very well,” continued Bortoleto,” who further revealed about his own relationship with McNish all these years. “And just keep up the work that we have here. Because I think the concept that we say inside this team is that no one is replaceable.
“I think we are a team, we are growing together. And yeah, we are just representing a big brand. So it’s not that because someone left that we are going to miss something. I think it’s always, someone joining and fitting an area where we need to be better. He had many roles, right, like a racing director now.
“But he was like the director of the development programme of Audi. I mean, he was also, even if it was not official, but me, I used to go to him and ask a few things sometimes. He has an experienced driver, he won a lot in his life, he knows Audi as a brand itself.
“So many times I used to go to him, ask things, talk just openly about how my things are going. Opinions I wanted about life and racing life. Things like this. He was also taking care about a lot of the commercial side of things, like sponsors, having events with sponsors, things like this,” summed up Bortoleto.
Useful filming day for Audi F1 Team
Audi has had a mixed bag in the three rounds so far. While the reliability concerns remains due to two DNS’, the race starts has been troubling both Hülkenberg and Bortoleto. During the break, the F1 team took the chance to practice race starts during filming day in Monza.
“Yeah, filming day was useful, I think,” said Hülkenberg. “We have work to do in that area. We are aware of that and therefore the break was good, obviously, to really do a deep dive on this, analyse and try and understand and come up with solutions and proposals. Obviously, we’ve worked on this in the background quite a lot and have some ideas for here which we’ll try and then hopefully they will work.”
