Audi F1 promotion a “no brainer” for Allan McNish

Allan McNish revealed that becoming the Audi Formula 1 racing director was a "no-brainer" decision after 'living the project since day one'. 

McNish took over from Jonathan Wheatly at the Audi helm after the former Red Bull man unexpectedly departed the team for "personal reasons" just two rounds into the 2026 campaign.

Speaking in Miami, the Scotsman appeared to have slotted well into his new role, having previously led the Audi Formula E team to championship success, and claimed two outright 24 Hours of Le Mans wins with the manufacturer - his other victory coming with Porsche in 1998.

“When I retired from racing in 2013, I was asked the same question, and I said I would never be involved in team management or anything else, because you’d have to deal with drivers like me, and I knew how difficult I was," joked McNish. 

"But the reality is that things change, life changes, so the rule of that is to never say never. 

“I’ve known this project since day one. I’ve been involved in it from literally the beginning in different roles, so on that side, it was quite obvious for me; being in Melbourne and seeing that car race for the first time was definitely a special moment. 

"And it was a no-brainer from my personal perspective when I got the telephone call and then went to have the discussion, that yes, 100%. Because again, I’ve lived it from day one, so why wouldn’t I?”

The call for McNish to expand his existing position as the lead of Audi's driver development programme came directly from team principal Mattia Binotto.

While Binotto remains "the boss", McNish moved to explain how the two will collaborate without standing on each other's toes.  

“Mattia is the team principal - he’s the CEO, I’m the racing director," explained McNish. 

"So effectively, he covers off power unit and also everything in Hinwil as you would expect, coming from his experience of power unit and his understanding of the team principal role. 

"I focus on everything we do here [at the track] in terms of race opperations, and at the same time, still cover all of the driver development programme, which we started at the beginning of the year, and another thing called legends, which is the post-racing director stuff. But that’s something that is for the future. 

“In terms of that, at this moment in time, he is there as support, and fantastic support, as opposed to necessarily being directly involved in the role that I do.”