Audi F1 Team made a successful debut in
Formula 1 by scoring its first points at the
2026 Australian Grand Prix. The result came thanks to
Gabriel
Bortoleto, ninth at the finish after a solid
and opportunistic race.
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“Finishing in the points during
our first Grand Prix as Audi and writing a page in
the history of motorsport is something the whole team
can be extremely proud of,” said Bortoleto.
A
solid foundation for the future
The driver also
welcomed the overall reliability of the car and the
power unit, the result of work carried out over the winter: “It
was a positive race at the end of a good weekend for us: the
car and the power unit were reliable throughout the
day, which is a great reward for the colossal effort
put in during the winter so that everything was ready for the season.
“
Bortoleto nevertheless recognizes
that this first race under the new regulations was sometimes
difficult to read: “The race was quite lively and
sometimes a bit chaotic with the new regulations, so there
still remains a lot of things to study and better understand.
But the pace was solid, communication in the garage was
excellent and the team managed the race very well.”
Despite this
encouraging result, the goal remains to gradually improve
performance: “Overall, it’s probably more than
what we could have hoped for a first weekend. This result
gives us a good working base, but we know that there are
still many areas in which we can
improve.”
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“Many races
await us, and we are now focusing on continuous
learning, car development and an even
stronger return at the upcoming events.”
Frustrating weekend for Hülkenberg
In the other car,
Nico Hülkenberg unfortunately could not convert
his promising eleventh place on the grid into a result. A
technical problem on his car forced him to retire even before
the formation lap.
“Unfortunately, we
did not have the opportunity to defend our chances today.
We encountered a technical problem while going to the grid,
and it’s a concern that we could not resolve in time for the
start. The team is currently investigating to understand
exactly what happened.”
The German driver prefers
however to focus on the positives of the weekend: “It’s obviously
frustrating to miss the race and the opportunity to learn
more. That said, it is positive to see the team finish in
the points: it’s an excellent result and a strong way to
launch the F1 era for Audi.”
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