- Audi F1 names Allan McNish as Racing Director from the Miami Grand Prix.
- McNish fills the gap left by Jonathan Wheatley’s sudden departure after two races.
- Three Le Mans wins with Audi make him no stranger to the brand.
Audi has appointed Allan McNish as Racing Director of its F1 team, the German manufacturer confirmed on 24 April.
The 56-year-old Scot, a three-time Le Mans winner with Audi, will take up the role from the Miami Grand Prix. He reports directly to Team Principal Mattia Binotto.
The appointment fills a gap left by Jonathan Wheatley, who departed as Team Principal just two races into Audi’s debut season as a works constructor.
Binotto stepped back into the Team Principal role after Wheatley left for what the team described as personal reasons.
Rather than hire a replacement Team Principal, Binotto chose to keep that title himself and bring in McNish to lead race weekend operations.
McNish will oversee sporting matters, engineering coordination, driver management, race strategy and garage operations, as well as on-track media and partner activities.
He will also retain his existing role as Director of the Audi Driver Development Programme, which he has held since January 2026.
Why McNish?
McNish’s connection to Audi runs deep. He won Le Mans in 2008 and 2013, driving Audi machinery. He also claimed the 1998 edition with Porsche.
In 2013, he and teammates Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval won the FIA World Endurance Championship together. He also won the Sebring 12-hour race four times.
His Formula 1 background, while limited, is relevant. McNish tested for McLaren at 19, and later held testing or development roles with Benetton, Renault and Toyota.
He raced in Formula 1 for Toyota in 2002, making 17 starts without scoring a point.
After retiring from driving, McNish led the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team in Formula E to the championship title in the 2017-18 season.
He has since served as Director of Coordination for Audi Group Motorsport, and has been part of the Audi F1 project since it began.
Binotto said McNish brings “an exceptional combination of racing experience, technical understanding and leadership” to the role, per the official F1 website. He added that McNish’s work on technical partnerships had already shaped the team’s preparations for Formula 1.
What the new structure at Audi looks like
The new arrangement moves away from the joint leadership model that Binotto and Wheatley had operated.
McNish now sits beneath Binotto in a more conventional reporting structure. Binotto will not always be present at race weekends, so McNish will serve as the team’s operational leader at every Grand Prix.
Binotto will focus on development at the team’s chassis base in Hinwil and its engine facility in Neuburg. McNish handles everything trackside.
McNish acknowledged the scale of what the team is building.
“My focus will be on ensuring that all aspects of our race operations are delivering at their most competitive level and continuously improving,” he said.
He described it as a privilege to represent Audi “on the most prestigious stage in motorsports.”
The bigger picture at Audi
This appointment is notable for what it is not. It is not another external hire. McNish knows the brand, its culture and its people. He has been involved in the F1 project from the start, which means he needs no settling-in period.
Audi has seen several leadership changes since announcing its F1 entry in 2022. Andreas Seidl and Frédéric Vasseur both departed before Binotto took charge.
Wheatley’s brief tenure added to that pattern of disruption. McNish is the first senior appointment to come from inside the existing structure.
The Audi F1 project is backed by significant investment from both the manufacturer and the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, a minority stakeholder.
The team’s stated goal is to compete for world championships by 2030. McNish’s job is to make the trackside operation match that ambition.
