Former Red Bull Sporting Director, Jonathan Wheatley will take up his new role as Team Principal at Sauber (Stake) on 1 April.

Wheatley will make his race debut as Team Principal at the Japanese Grand Prix. Together with Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer, Mattia Binotto, he will jointly lead the management team at Sauber Motorsport AG. as it morphs into Audi.

With Wheatley taking up his new role, the team takes another important step closer to Audi's entry, with just over nine months until the marque officially becomes a Formula One team.

Wheatley's career in Formula One started at Benetton back in the early 1990s, where he rose to become chief mechanic. Following three years as chief mechanic at Renault, he joined the newly founded Red Bull team in 2006, where he achieved considerable success as Sporting Director. During his time at the Milton Keynes team, Red Bull secured six constructor's and seven driver's championships.

In their respective positions, both Binotto and Wheatley report directly to Gernot Dollner in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sauber Motorsport AG.

Binotto and Wheatley are together jointly responsible for the success of the racing team, under a structure that empowers both leaders with clearly defined roles and deliverables.