Bortoleto immediately brings Audi into the points: “Proud to have written a piece of motorsport history”

Memorable debut

In an Australian Grand Prix which rewarded all the talent of a rookie like Arvid Lindblad, a real surprise of the race on the Albert Park circuit, in Melbourne the world championship points also arrived for another debuting reality: it is theAudiwhich immediately reached the top-10 on the first weekend of its history in Formula 1 thanks to 9th place for Gabriel Bortoleto.

The pride of the Four Circles

The Brazilian, who had already brought the R26 into the top ten in qualifying, fought during the race to maintain a position in the points, managing to do so at the first try: “Finishing in points our first event as Audi e writing a piece of motorsport history is something the whole team can be extremely proud of – he declared – It was a positive race at the end of a good weekend for us: the car and power unit worked reliably all day, which is a great reward for the huge effort put in over the winter to get everything ready for the season. The race itself was quite challenging and at times a bit chaotic with the new regulations, so there are still many things to study and understand better. But the pace was strong, the communication was excellent and the team executed the race very well. Overall, it probably is more than we could have expected from the first weekend. This result gives us a good base to start from, but we know there are still many aspects we can improve on. Many races await us and now our goal is to continue learning, develop the car and come back even stronger in the next events.”

Hülkenberg absent on the grid

Total disappointment, in spite of it, though Nico Hülkenberg. While Oscar Piastri did not take part in his home GP due to an accident which occurred on the reconnaissance lap, the German was stuck in the pits due to a technical problem which did not allow him to line up on the grid: “Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to race today. We had a technical problem while preparing for the starting grid and we weren’t able to resolve it in time for the start. The team is investigating to understand exactly what happened. It is obviously frustrating to miss the race and the opportunity to learn more. That said, it’s good to see the team finish in the points thanks to Gabi, which is a great result and a great way to start the F1 era for Audi. The races follow each other quickly, so we reset and start again next week.”