Downward spiral at Audi? Allan McNish sees no reason to panic

– According to Allan McNish, race director for Audi’s Formula 1 project, the team with the four rings can only go uphill.

At the race weekend in Miami, Audi struggled with a variety of technical problems. “Of course, you don’t want to have something like that,” McNish admits.

“But many other power unit manufacturers have similar problems. It’s not just an issue for us. There are many areas that we all have to manage and learn from. We are learning much more than our competitors. [Some problems] we really have to get under control, there is no doubt about that, and that is exactly our focus.”

Terrible Miami Weekend

While Nico Hülkenberg could not participate in the sprint due to his blown R26, Gabriel Bortoleto was disqualified after the race because of too high intake pressure in the engine. Similar smoke signals from the Brazilian in qualifying or technical problems on race day for Hülkenberg were also not a success. In addition, the team has been struggling with such errors since the start of the season.

The project is not supposed to fail due to the cooperation between the teams in Hinwil and Neuburg, McNish emphasizes: “It can only get better, right? At the end of the day, this project literally started at the beginning of the year, so that’s been four months so far.”

“The structure is well set up and very stable. Certainly, we have to catch up in some areas, but I wouldn’t say that communication is a problem. In the future, there will be advantages if we work even closer together, and of course things will get better. But basically, I don’t think we need to change anything here.”

Furthermore, McNish emphasizes: “We did not start with the package that some of our competitors were able to bring to the start. It gets more and more difficult over time. You can’t just rely on updates somehow working.”

“We also have to improve in other areas. The development rate will change a little from race to race, especially in the midfield. That should be the case until the end of the year.”

Regarding Miami, McNish notes: “The chassis itself is really good. [Gabriel] was faster than many expected from the outside. If he had started where he usually qualifies, around eleventh place, he would have scored points. The same applies to Nico.”

“In terms of performance, we were really strong in the first sector. For that, we have more problems in traffic overtaking other cars than we would like. But hopefully, we won’t be forced to overtake them.”

“We’ve been here for quite a while,” the race director summarizes. “It’s not an easy environment, it’s very competitive. Everyone is competitive and quick-witted. In this respect, it’s not unexpected that not everything works yet.”

In the constructors’ championship, Audi is in ninth place after four race weekends. Only in Australia was Gabriel Bortoleto able to score two points for the team.