Gabriel Bortoleto set an important benchmark for his season by finishing 11th at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. The Brazilian driver finished just behind Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvind Lindblad, despite Audi admitting they sometimes lose a second to rivals on certain tracks; his teammate Nico Hülkenberg started 12th.
Bortoleto: "I've had my first good start to the season."“
Bortoleto, in his post-race assessment, emphasized that he gave his all and said the result surprised him. “I gave everything. I maintained a five-second gap to the VCARBs throughout the race; in the final section I had to overtake a few cars and that gap widened a bit. But the result was a bit of a surprise; we didn’t expect to be this close. Our pace was better than we hoped,” he said.
The driver was particularly pleased with his first successful start of the season. “We are continuing to improve our starting procedure. I felt that Pierre (Gasly) didn’t have a very good start, while I had a very good one, and I managed to overtake him there. If I had been in a Ferrari or a Colapinto, which normally makes excellent starts, the result might have been different. But I think my start was quite good,” he said.
High-speed cornering is Audi's strength.
The Red Bull Ring is known for its critical role in engine power on the straights; Audi admits to losing around a second per lap to rivals on such tracks. However, the team has an advantage over its competitors in the high-speed corners. Bortoleto assessed a similar scenario for Silverstone: “We’ll see how it goes on the long straights there, but I think we can create value in the high-speed corners.”
Another significant development for Audi over the weekend was the team's successful rollout of a major upgrade package. Race director Allan McNish described Austria as the team's best weekend of the season. “We got the maximum out of the car in every aspect, from practice to qualifying to the race; in that sense, it was our best weekend yet,” said the Scotsman, also openly acknowledging that the VCARBs were still ahead: “Performance specific to this track was always going to be a bit challenging; we brought our upgrades and they worked well. But the VCARBs were faster, that's a fact. When they get ahead, it's very difficult to compete with them.”
The Silverstone exam is approaching.
The next race, the British Grand Prix, will be held at Silverstone. Bortoleto acknowledges that the long straights could once again highlight the car's speed deficit, but anticipates that the high-speed corners will partially compensate for this disadvantage. Audi, one of the midfield teams that achieved the best qualifying results in Austria, aims to maintain the momentum brought by the update package in order to achieve a similar result at Silverstone.