Audi has tightened up its trackside chain of command by appointing Allan McNish as racing director, a move that both reinforces Mattia Binotto’s new dual role and quietly acknowledges the gap left by Jonathan Wheatley’s departure.
McNish will report directly to Binotto, whose title now spans CEO and team principal. When Wheatley exited, Binotto made it clear he’d assume team principal duties himself — but also that he needed a senior figure at circuits to carry day-to-day race operations and join the dots between the garage, the pit wall and the wider project. This is Audi formalising that structure.
For McNish, it’s a return to the F1 paddock in a capacity that suits his particular CV: part driver, part organiser, part company man. He’s been embedded in Audi’s motorsport ecosystem for years, most recently as director of motorsport co-ordination while also steering the brand’s fledgling driver development programme. Before that, he was team principal of Audi’s Formula E effort. Inside the company, he’s become the sort of operator who speaks fluent “race weekend” and fluent “boardroom” — and in a start-up F1 team trying to build habits as much as lap time, that matters.
Audi is also leaning into the symbolism. McNish isn’t just a competent executive; he’s one of the faces associated with the Four Rings’ modern racing success, including two overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a World Endurance Championship title in 2013. That kind of pedigree doesn’t directly buy you tenths on a Saturday, but it does buy instant credibility with engineers, partners and drivers — especially when the project is still in its early, slightly bruising phase.
“It is a privilege to take on the role of Racing Director for Audi Revolut F1 Team: this is a marque that means a lot to me and it is an honour to be able to represent Audi and our partners on the most prestigious stage in motorsports,” McNish said.
He framed the job in the language you’d expect from someone stepping into a performance-facing role without pretending he’s the one turning the setup knobs. “This is an exciting challenge at a pivotal moment in the history of Audi and Formula 1, and I am looking forward to contributing even more directly to our trackside performance,” he added, before making clear his remit is about raising the standard of race operations and pushing continuous improvement — the unglamorous stuff that separates a functional team from a sharp one.
Audi’s wording around the appointment is telling too. Binotto praised McNish’s “exceptional combination of racing experience, technical understanding and leadership,” and pointed to his involvement since the start of the Audi Revolut F1 Team project, including work on technical partnerships. That’s not accidental emphasis: Audi has been assembling the scaffolding of an F1 operation at the same time as trying to score points on Sundays, and those two tracks don’t always run parallel. Putting someone in place who can connect the immediate race weekend priorities to the longer build is the kind of management decision that doesn’t make headlines on its own — until it starts preventing mistakes.
“This appointment strengthens our trackside leadership at a crucial stage of our project,” Binotto said. “Allan’s ability to connect all performance-related areas – from sporting operations to driver development – will be fundamental as we continue to build our team.”
McNish is set to start in the role at next weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, with Audi on two points so far this season. That’s a number that underlines where the team is right now: close enough to feel the pressure, far enough away that leadership and clarity become as important as any upgrade package.
In Miami, the new job title will be tested immediately — not in the meeting rooms, but in the messy, compressed reality of an F1 weekend, where decisions come fast and consequences come faster. If Audi wants to look like a serious works operation, it has to operate like one. McNish’s arrival is a step in that direction.
