'More than a bad start' costs Audi again as Hulkenberg finishes P11 in Austin
Hulkenberg agonisingly close again
Nico Hulkenberg came close to scoring at the United States Grand Prix, but had to settle for another P11 result for Audi. It is the third time in the last four races that the German has finished in P11, something that has become a theme of Audi's season as a whole.
The team remain in the midfield mix, with their last big upgrade package, bolted on in Baku, propelling them into the fight for points. Despite that, they have scored only once in the last four Grands Prix, Hulkenberg's P8 in Singapore delivering four much-needed points.
A bad start turns into anti-stall
Things were always going to be tough at the Circuit of The Americas. Gabriel Bortoleto started from the back after picking up a raft of penalties for taking on new power unit components, although he should now have enough parts in his pool to reach the end of the season without further issue. That left Hulkenberg fighting for points from P11 on the grid, and another poor start made his task even harder.
"You can't call that a bad start, it went into anti-stall so yeah, that's more than a bad start," the German said afterwards. "A strange one as normally the anti-stall kicks in instantly, and I did a few metres and then it kicked in. Sounded and felt a bit odd, but obviously don't know what happened, [I'm] fresh out of the car so I need to go back and see what happened and why. But of course, it didn't help our cause for the race."
Reliability improving, starts still a problem
Audi have struggled with reliability this season, especially with their power unit. As the only team running the Audi PU, they have significantly less data to draw on than Mercedes and Ferrari, who each supply customer teams. Hulkenberg failed to start two of the first four races, but reliability has been much better of late; Silverstone was the last time he failed to see the chequered flag.
Starts remain an issue, however, with both cars often losing out off the line. "You saw again today we were quite close pace-wise with Pierre [Gasly] and with Liam [Lawson], and obviously we came from behind after that start but not sure we could have done a whole lot more from there," Hulkenberg added. "It would have all [been] dependent on how with a good start [where] we would have come out, we can only speculate but it is what it is now."
Bortoleto recovers to 13th
Bortoleto enjoyed his afternoon on track, though recovering to the top 10 from the back of the field was always going to be a tough ask. "We did a good race, overtook some cars, kept it clean at the same time you know, no damage. I had a bit of fun overtaking people and being out there, trying my best, putting in some good [racing]. Obviously, it is difficult to recover everything starting from the back," the Brazilian said.
He crossed the line 13th and, like his team-mate, has five P11 results to his name this season.
Close, but not close enough
Audi sit eighth in the Teams' Championship, seven points adrift of Haas in the fight for seventh. While they appear to have the edge on the American team on pace, scoring opportunities are few and far between at the moment. Racing Bulls, ahead of Audi, have enjoyed strong reliability and two drivers in good form.
Even so, Audi are enjoying a solid season with the new generation of cars. They have taken the right direction with their upgrades, have an established driver pairing that works well together, and have weathered the disruption of Jonathan Wheatley leaving. That gives the team a good base to launch into 2027 as they look to climb the order and challenge more consistently for points.