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Sauber is shuffling its senior leadership ahead of the new season, with it now set to get hold of new Formula 1 team boss Jonathan Wheatley earlier than originally anticipated.
Former Red Bull sporting director Wheatley announced his move to the future-Audi squad last year but his start date remained up in the air with his old contract running until July.
Sources have now revealed to The Race that an arrangement has been reached for Wheatley to join a few months earlier – with an April 1 date provisionally slotted in.
If that date is made official, then it means Wheatley will join in time for the third round of the 2025 season, which takes place in Japan on April 6.
Sauber has laid the groundwork for the change in the way its race operations run at events this year with a shift in its leadership.
On Wednesday, it announced that team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi is to leave the squad at the end of this month.
The Italian, who in his role was the public face of the Hinwil-based operation on race weekends, had always been viewed as an interim figure ahead of its transition into a full-scale Audi works operation from 2026.
Bravi joined Sauber in 2017 as its general counsel and board member, being promoted to managing director in 2022.
Following the departure of team principal Fred Vasseur at the end of that season, and the outfit preparing for its Audi future under then-CEO Andrea Seidl, Bravi took up the role of team representative.
With Wheatley joining as team boss this year, it had been unclear if Bravi would continue at the squad in a different role – but he has elected to move on to a new challenge.
Speaking about his exit, Bravi said: “It is an emotional time as my journey with Sauber reaches its end.
“Since I joined in 2017, I have seen this team grow and change beyond what anyone could have imagined.
“This organisation went through exciting and difficult times alike, all without ever losing its spirit and its commitment, which is something I find inspiring, and I was proud of being able to represent the team as its public face in the last two years.”
Audi COO and CTO Mattia Binotto said Bravi "came to embody the essence of Sauber throughout the years".
