– Bitter news shortly before the start of the sprint at the Miami Grand Prix: Nico Hülkenberg cannot participate in the race. The German suddenly stopped with his Audi on the way to the starting grid – the car smoked and had to be shut down.
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This means the sprint is over for Hülkenberg before it even started. Especially bitter: The veteran had qualified in twelfth position in the sprint qualifying and thus narrowly missed advancing to SQ3.
Although points are only awarded to the top 8 in the sprint anyway, the starting position at least raised hopes for a solid result. Instead, another technical defect causes frustration – both for the driver and the team.
McNish puzzled: “We first need to get the car back”
Immediately after the incident, Allan McNish, race director of the Audi Formula 1 team, appeared visibly reserved. He could not initially name a clear cause.
“Not at the moment. We had something in the garage that we thought was fixed – but obviously there was a problem on the way to the starting grid,” explains McNish. The crucial thing now is to get the car back to conduct a precise analysis.
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Also looking ahead to the upcoming qualifying for the Grand Prix, he remains cautious: “We first need to get the car back before we can really see if we can repair it in time.” So there was no quick all-clear.
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Another setback: Audi struggles with reliability
The incident fits seamlessly into an otherwise problematic season for Audi. Already at the season opener in Australia, Hülkenberg could not participate in the race – also due to technical difficulties.
Throughout the rest of the season, there have been recurring problems, including the weekend in China, where the car’s reliability was again an issue. The failure in Miami now reinforces the impression that Audi is currently struggling mainly with the durability of its components.
Missed opportunity in the sprint: Points fiercely contested anyway
Sportingly, it would have been a challenge for Hülkenberg to work his way into the points in the sprint anyway. In the Formula 1 sprint format, only the first eight drivers receive points – starting from twelfth place, a strong race would have been necessary.
Nevertheless, the failure is more than just a missed result. Especially in tight midfield battles, every race lap counts to collect data and make progress. Audi now completely loses this opportunity.
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