– Audi has made a solid start in Formula 1: Although the first races of the season did not always go as planned, Nico Hülkenberg and teammate Gabriel Bortoleto are now regularly scoring points – and are already within reach of seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.
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To recall: Last year, the Sauber team, from which the Audi team emerged, finished second to last. “Sauber – I mean, they were pretty desperate in the last two, three years,” says former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley in the podcast High Performance Racing.
“They were simply miserable, there’s no other way to put it.” Although Audi already had its first involvement with Sauber last season, it is only this year that the full potential of the takeover by the Ingolstadt-based company is becoming apparent.
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“They have always had, or at least for a long time, a very good wind tunnel,” Smedley adds with regard to the Sauber team. “But if you look at their facility in Germany now – the engine plant, the power unit center – that is unbeatable; and they are still expanding it.”
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“There are plans for further development”
“So it is a huge project for them,” says the former Formula 1 engineer. “The Hinwil location may leave a little to be desired as a Formula 1 facility. But they are expanding it, and there are plans for further development. So it is a really important project for them.”
Further progress can also be expected in the future: Nico Hülkenberg finished eighth at the Dutch Grand Prix, achieving his best result of the season. At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza (all sessions in the live ticker!), Audi could now score points for the fifth consecutive time.
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