Audi announce Le Mans legend to senior new F1 position

Audi has announced that Allan McNish is to take up the newly-created position of racing director in F1, effective from the Miami Grand Prix.

As reported by RacingNews365 on Thursday, the team has appointed the three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner to the newly-created position of Racing Director, working to support the head of the F1 project, Mattia Binotto.

At the Japanese GP, after the shock exit of Jonathan Wheatley as team principal, Binotto signalled that he would take on leadership of Audi's first F1 programme, but that he needed support and another figure to work alongside him, with Audi concluding that this should be McNish.

The Scot is already involved with the team as the head of the driver development programme, and has experience of guiding Audi to motorsport success when he was the team principal of the Audi Formula E project, guiding the team to the 2017/18 teams' title. 

His new position will include taking on the responsibility for "coordinating all trackside operations."

This will include the "oversight of sporting matters, engineering coordination, driver management, race strategy and garage operations, as well as on-track media and partner activities," according to a team statement. 

Speaking about his new position, the 2013 World Endurance champion and former Toyota F1 driver McNish explained that: "It is a privilege to take on the role of Racing Director for Audi 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.

"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.

"The project we are building is ambitious, and my focus will be on ensuring that all aspects of our race operations are delivering at their most competitive level and continuously improving. 

"Together with our Driver Development Programme, to which I remain fully committed, my focus will be on implementing the building blocks for our success, under the direction of Mattia and the Board of Directors."

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Binotto reacts

Speaking about the appointment of McNish, Binotto spoke about the "exceptional" track record he would bring to the position at a "crucial stage" of the Audi project.

"Allan brings an exceptional combination of racing experience, technical understanding and leadership to this role," said Binotto.

"He has been a central part of the motorsport structure of Audi for many years and, in his roles within Audi F1 Team since its start, has played a key role in shaping our preparation for Formula 1, not least with his work around technical partnerships.

"This appointment strengthens our trackside leadership at a crucial stage of our project. 

"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."