– “I am happy,” says Audi racing director Allan McNish after the last race before the 2026 Formula 1 summer break. At the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, Nico Hülkenberg finished ninth, securing the third consecutive top-10 result for Audi.
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The new factory team thus went into the multi-week Formula 1 break on a high. After missing points seven times in a row previously, things have been going much better since the race in Silverstone, where Gabriel Bortoleto finished eighth.
“We still have a lot to improve,” McNish knows. “But we have just overtaken Williams in the constructors’ standings,” emphasizes the 56-year-old. Audi (12 points) is now in eighth place ahead of Williams (11). Haas (21) in seventh is also coming closer and closer.
McNish also recalls: “We have regularly made it into Q3, we have regularly achieved top-10 finishes in races and scored points, and I see from the progress we are making as a team both organizationally and technically that we are actually getting stronger.”
Upward trend more important than pure results
McNish himself joined the team as racing director after team principal Jonathan Wheatley left in April. He has observed in recent months “that we as a team have actually developed a lot since I have been directly involved,” he reports.
“I believe we function as a team,” says McNish and explains that for him the most important thing is not the pure results, “but rather the good feeling that we are simply getting stronger and are on an upward trend,” he reveals.
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“There are areas where we need to improve, such as starts, which is quite obvious. But ultimately, I think the pure pace is better than I expected,” says the three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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“I did not think we would be so fast and consistently so fast,” he says satisfied. In fact, Audi brought a car into Q3 in each of the last two races and established itself behind the Racing Bulls at the top of the so-called midfield.
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For McNish, this is a partial success. In the long term, however, this is of course not Audi’s ambition. “The gap to the four top teams is large,” McNish also knows. And Audi’s official goal is to be able to fight for the World Championship title by 2030.
“However, considering that we have only completed eleven races in our Formula 1 career so far, I actually think this is a pretty good starting position,” emphasizes McNish, whose overall conclusion for the summer break is therefore positive.
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Audi team principal Mattia Binotto also recently stated: “We are on schedule with the plan we set ourselves, and measured against the goals defined so far, everything is developing as expected.” Audi is already “the fourth or fifth strongest force” in the field in terms of chassis.
The biggest deficit currently remains with the engine for the former Sauber team. “I knew we would start with a certain deficit because we had to build completely new know-how and new competencies,” says Binotto.
“This is a long-term project, and I am convinced that Audi will have a top-level power unit within a few years,” he says optimistically.
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