From the Sprint to qualifying, Audi had a difficult Saturday in Miami.

Saturday had already started badly for Nico HulkenbergA technical problem detected during the grid-setting process caused a leak and a small fire on its car Audi, making it impossible for him to start the sprint. On the other side of the garage, Gabriel Bortoleto got off to a great start and ran a solid race to cross the finish line in eleventh position — before a minor technical infringement led to his disqualification after the race. A tough double blow to swallow, which erased two performances that could have brought valuable points to the team at the start of the weekend.

Qualifying for the Grand Prix was hardly more forgiving. Between the two sessions, the team had to make power unit and gearbox changes on car number 27 — a colossal task completed in record time by the mechanics, whom the German warmly praised: “A huge thank you to the mechanics; they did a fantastic job getting the car back in working order after the sprint and back on track. It took a considerable effort in a very short time, so all the credit goes to them.” The result is commensurate with the effort: Nico Hülkenberg sets the eleventh time in Q2 at 1:29.439, narrowly missing Q3 but securing a decent starting position for the Grand Prix.

Another mixed performance

For Gabriel Bortoleto, the day ended even worse. Delayed by a gearbox change between sessions, he benefited from an out in the final seconds of qualifying thanks to a remarkable collective effort — but a brake problem forced him to stop his car on track, leaving him 22nd and last on the grid with only three laps completed in Q1. "The team did a fantastic job getting the car back on track, but when you have to do things in such a rush and don't have time to check everything thoroughly, it's always difficult.", recognizes the Brazilian.

Allan McNish sums up a day that tested the mental resilience of the entire team: “A very difficult day for us, from start to finish. But above all, both teams showed real courage, great determination, and excellent teamwork under pressure, which is exactly what we need at this stage of the project. We now need to regroup, learn from today, and make sure we seize every opportunity that comes our way tomorrow.” The German will start tenth this Sunday after the disqualification of Isack Hadjar, his teammate 21st — two very different starting positions which alone illustrate the dispersion of fortunes experienced by the German team on this Florida Saturday.

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