Aston Martin make approach for Audi boss Wheatley
Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who was linked to Aston Martin last November, has met with Stroll this week. However, Newey is said by sources to be opposed to Horner joining the team. Wheatley, with whom Newey worked for 20 years at Red Bull, would be an acceptable alternative.
Wheatley (centre) and Newey (right) worked together at Red Bull for 20 years Stroll signed Newey on a contract which could be worth as much as £30m a year -including all possible bonuses and add-ons - hoping he would be the final part in the jigsaw that turned the team into winners. But Aston Martin are last in the world championship after what amounts to a disastrous start to the season. The car is not yet competitive.
Newey's arrival in March last year, combined with problems with their new wind tunnel, has led to its development being delayed but the 67-year-old is confident the chassis can be made competitive over the course of this season. The bigger problem is the Honda engine, which has suffered major reliability problems and is short on power and energy recovery. The engine has vibrations which were causing the batteries to fail in pre-season testing, leaving the team very short on parts for the first two races of the season.
A workaround was found to isolate the batteries from the vibration, which allowed the car to run for longer. But the vibrations are still being transferred to the chassis and into the drivers' hands. Fernando Alonso was withdrawn from the Chinese Grand Prix last Sunday because the vibrations were causing too much discomfort.
Alonso said: "I could not probably finish the race anyway. Vibrations level were very high today. At one point, from lap 20 to 35, I was struggling a little bit to feel my hands and my feet.