Audi close to scoring points in Japan: "We did not achieve the objective we had set for ourselves"

The results for Audi in Japan were mixed. On the one hand, both cars finished the race, demonstrating solid reliability and a pace capable of challenging for a top-10 finish. On the other hand, poor starts and an inability to capitalize on opportunities despite an aggressive race, for both drivers who started 9th (Bortoleto) and 13th (Hulkenberg) positions on the grid.

Mattia Binotto, head of the project F1, emphasizes this double interpretation: “This race leaves us with mixed feelings, with both positives and areas for improvement. On the positive side, the fact that both our cars started and completed the entire race is a significant step forward for the team. Reliability was excellent throughout the race, and operationally, it went well, with regular and incident-free pit stops.”

“Improving our starts is something we need to focus on.”

Beyond simply arriving, the pace displayed suggests real ambitions: “The car’s pace was also encouraging. We showed we can fight in the top 10, and Nico’s race particularly demonstrated this: he battled hard to move up through the field and managed to overtake some fast cars to finish just outside the points. This highlights the potential inherent in our package.”

A performance that Hülkenberg himself confirms, despite a race made more complex from the start: “We had good pace and a real chance to score points, but our race was compromised by a poor start. Improving our starts is something we need to focus on as a team in the coming weeks. I lost several places on the first lap, dropping from 13th to 19th, which made things difficult afterwards.” Caught in traffic, the German driver had to contend with the specific characteristics of the 2026 single-seaters, particularly in terms of energy management: "These cars remain quite difficult to drive given the current energy management and overtaking dynamics. You can attempt maneuvers, but you immediately find yourself vulnerable afterwards, so it's a bit of a compromise for the time being."

"I was simply far too slow."

The same situation occurred in the other car, where Gabriel Bortoleto finished 13th after an exciting but frustrating race: "What penalized us most today, unfortunately, was the start: we've known since the first race of the season that this is something we need to work on, to try and get things back on track and not compromise the work done on Saturday." The Brazilian also highlighted a lack of performance in certain key areas: "I think the pace was okay, but I was just way too slow on the straights, and there wasn't much I could do."

These difficulties, already identified since the start of the season, remain central to the work ahead. Binotto does not shy away from them and clearly targets areas for improvement: “Our start performance is not yet up to our expectations, and we lost a lot of ground on the first lap, which ultimately negated the good work done yesterday and compromised the race for both our drivers. More generally, handling and energy management remain key areas we need to focus on.”

In this context, the break before Miami comes at the perfect time. Audi will be able to use the data gathered during these first three races to refine a package that is still young but promising: "Even though we didn't reach our target points total, we have a solid foundation, and our priority is to come back strong in the next phase of the season." At Suzuka, the tenth-place point was missed by just over a second. A minor detail, but also symbolic: Audi is getting closer, without managing to capitalize.

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