– On Friday before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Audi showed itself in extremely promising form. Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto never struggled with technical issues at the Hungaroring and were at the top of the midfield in the long runs.
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“It was a fairly straightforward Friday,” was the assessment of the more experienced Audi driver. Hülkenberg finished FT1 in eighth position, while he was able to complete FT2 in ninth position. Bortoleto achieved P6 and P11 in the two sessions respectively.
F1: Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest) 2026
Especially the second free practice was a challenge from the perspective of last year’s rookie. “FT2 was a bit more difficult, especially on the soft tire,” said Bortoleto.
The windy conditions at the Hungaroring also posed problems for the teams. Alpine Race Director Dave Greenwood, for example, attributed Franco Colapinto’s off in the last corner to this. Overall, the team with the four rings is extremely satisfied.
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“I would say it was a good day,” Hülkenberg concluded. It remains questionable whether the 38-year-old will have a problem-free weekend in Hungary. In Spa-Francorchamps, technical problems had cost him a better grid position. Consequently, only teammate Bortoleto managed to score important championship points for the former Sauber team on the Ardennes roller coaster.
The lack of power unit performance should not play too big a role on “Monaco without guardrails”. Accordingly, Audi is not only thinking about the third consecutive top 10 result, but also about seventh place in the Constructors’ World Championship.
After the race in Spa, the team is in ninth position with ten points. Only a single championship point is missing for eighth place, while Audi and seventh-placed team Haas are separated by only eleven points.
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