(Motorsport-Total.com) – For Audi, the Italian Grand Prix ended just outside the points. Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg finished in eleventh and twelfth place in Monza. Bortoleto was about seven seconds behind tenth-placed Yuki Tsunoda, with Hülkenberg another second behind.
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For Nico Hülkenberg, Sunday was primarily a physical and sporting challenge. “Wow, my heel is burning, I’m telling you,” the Audi driver exclaimed immediately after the race in a conversation with Sky. His Grand Prix was “not easy,” especially because of the failed first start.
After the red flag and restart, the German then got better into the race. “The second start was, I think, okay, was respectable from my side,” he explains. “I then had a very, very good first lap. Gained a few positions, which were then immediately lost again in laps two and three.”
However, it was not immediately clear to him why he lost ground again so quickly. “I don’t know if there were problems on the energy side,” Hülkenberg speculates. “But, yeah, we have to see what was going on.”
Red flag changes the “dynamics”
When asked about his team’s strategy, Hülkenberg evaluates the basic plan positively. “I think, yes,” he answers when asked if the strategy basically worked. However, the early red flag after Charles Leclerc’s accident changed the “dynamics” of the race.
The Audi driver switched from medium tires, with which he had started, to the hard compound. When the virtual safety car came later, he was already outside the points. It was clear that Audi had to take a risk.
“We said, then we obviously have to risk something and do something different. That’s what we did,” explains Hülkenberg, who switched back to used medium tires. In the end, however, this variant did not bring a decisive advantage: Hülkenberg finished immediately behind his teammate.
“In the end, it was six of one, half a dozen of the other,” the German analyzes soberly, who finished twelfth. “I was exactly behind Gabi at the end and it didn’t change much.”
Bortoleto: Starts remain the problem
Gabriel Bortoleto looks similarly sobered but somewhat more optimistic about Sunday. “I gave everything, I did everything I could,” emphasizes the Brazilian. At the same time, he names a weakness that has been troubling Audi since the start of the season and also slowed Hülkenberg down: the starts.
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“I think the starts are a problem for us. We have known that since the beginning of the season,” explains Bortoleto. The problem is not limited to losing individual positions right at the start but also forces the drivers to make up time and positions again during the race.
“Then you have to recover everything you lost in lap one, and that is always tough,” the Audi driver knows. Especially in Monza, this was particularly difficult because Audi does not have such a big speed advantage that they can easily catch up with the competition.
The characteristics of the track made the task even more complicated. Monza, at 5.793 kilometers, is the fastest track on the current Formula 1 calendar and is strongly influenced by top speed and efficiency on the long straights.
A small hope for points remains
Nevertheless, Bortoleto was at times able to fight with the Racing Bulls: “Surely I pushed the tires a bit too hard, but still I think competing against the Racing Bulls was a small surprise that I did not expect. They were super fast on the straights.”
This also explains why eleventh place did not completely disappoint him despite missing out on points. “It was not a given that we would finish eleventh and maybe even get into the points, depending on what happened ahead of us,” he emphasizes.
For Audi, the result could even take on a different meaning afterwards. The team announced after the Grand Prix that it would appeal the decision of the race stewards regarding Tsunoda’s restart violation.
Tsunoda triggered an additional formation lap at the restart after not standing correctly on his starting position. However, the stewards refrained from sanctioning him. Audi could thereby move into the points retroactively. Bortoleto is already looking ahead to the upcoming races.
When asked if further technical improvements for the car are planned, he says only this much: “We have some, but you have to ask Mattia [Binotto; team principal] when they will come.” Nevertheless, the Brazilian formulates one wish unmistakably: “Hopefully they come soon, because we need them.”
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