Audi narrowly missed out on Formula 1 points once again at Sepang, with Nico Hülkenberg finishing 11th after running ninth during the closing stages of the race. Just as in Baku, the German ended one position outside the points after being unable to defend against the late advances of Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad.
The Malaysian weekend therefore continued a frustrating trend for Audi, which again came close to a top-10 finish without converting its opportunity into points. Hülkenberg had worked his way into a promising position through the changing conditions before the final stages of the race turned against him.
Nico Hülkenberg drops out of the points late at Sepang
Following the downpour that forced the start to be delayed, Nico Hülkenberg initially opted for slick tyres before returning to the pits shortly afterwards to switch to intermediates. From that point, aided by another subsequent pit stop, the Audi driver climbed back to ninth position.
However, with only a few laps remaining before the chequered flag, Alexander Albon’s retirement triggered another Safety Car period. The timing worked against the experienced Audi driver, who was unable to resist the attacks from Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad after racing resumed.
“It was an eventful race,” Nico Hülkenberg said. “Overall, we were fighting for points, but in the end we finished 11th again. I was much happier with my performance compared to Saturday.
“At the beginning, we made the right decision by switching early to the intermediate tyres and, although we initially lost ground, we recovered all of it within one lap. That put us in a good position for the rest of the race. There were a lot of wheel-to-wheel battles.
“In the end, however, we didn’t have the pace needed to stay in the points. Realistically, we were only in that position because of the problems suffered by the cars ahead of us, so it was always going to be difficult.
“Nevertheless, from my side it was a clean race, we learned a lot as a team and now our focus immediately turns to Singapore.”
Gabriel Bortoleto apologises to Carlos Sainz after contact
Like Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto adopted the same tyre strategy, but the Brazilian’s race was compromised following contact with Carlos Sainz after the restart from the first Safety Car period.
The incident caused damage to Gabriel Bortoleto’s car and also resulted in a 10-second penalty. He had damage to both the front wing and the floor, leaving him too far behind to challenge for a significant result.
The final Safety Car intervention then contributed to Gabriel Bortoleto dropping to 18th place by the chequered flag, completing a difficult afternoon for the second Audi driver.
“First of all, I want to apologise to Carlos. I made contact with him at the restart and, unfortunately, I compromised his race as well as my own.
“I suffered damage to both the front wing and the floor and, at that point, we were too far back to fight for anything significant. The rest of the race wasn’t straightforward either; overall, it was a difficult Sunday.
“Now we look at the positives and turn our attention to Singapore: hopefully we can achieve a good result there.”
Audi turns its attention to Singapore
Audi therefore leaves Sepang without the points that had appeared within reach during the closing stages. Nico Hülkenberg was able to fight his way into ninth position but acknowledged that the car ultimately lacked the pace required to remain there, while Gabriel Bortoleto’s contact with Carlos Sainz effectively ended his hopes of a meaningful result.
For the team, Singapore now provides the next opportunity to convert the lessons learned from a chaotic race into a stronger result and finally turn another competitive position into championship points.
Leave a Reply