“In Australia everyone will drop their pants”: Audi driver comments on test times
New year, new teams. Starting this season, Formula 1 welcomes two new entries, adding extra intensity to the competition. On one side, there’s Cadillac, arriving in the F1 circus with a team built entirely from scratch. On the other, Audi emerged from the former Sauber team, bringing experienced personnel, significant investments, and well-established facilities, giving them strong potential to perform well throughout the upcoming championship.
The German manufacturer completed its highly anticipated official F1 debut with its own power unit and team. Audi impressed during the Bahrain pre-season tests with the number of technical innovations introduced on the R26, though its lap times were less remarkable on the Sakhir track, where the last round of pre-season testing concluded just last week.
Midfield battle?
According to Nico Hulkenberg, Audi’s official driver and representative of the four-ringed brand, the team could be competitive enough to fight in the midfield pack. This assessment, however, is currently based only on his impressions behind the wheel, as all teams were keeping their programs concealed. Hulkenberg admitted that any evaluation at this stage is essentially speculative.
Only the first qualifying session of the 2026 season, scheduled for Saturday, March 7 in Melbourne, will reveal the real performance hierarchy. At that point, every team will be forced to reveal its true pace, as Hulkenberg jokingly admitted with far more colorful phrasing in his interview.
A key reference for Audi comes from the times set in Bahrain by the team’s young driver Gabriel Bortoleto, who recorded the seventh fastest time, while Nico Hulkenberg himself completed the three-day test in 15th place.
“Dropping the pants”
Hulkenberg explained that the real assessment will only come once teams fully reveal their performance during qualifying: “I firmly believe that we’ve made excellent progress from Barcelona until today. There are definitely positive aspects, but it’s still early. There’s always work to do, things to refine and optimize. It’s an ongoing process: we learn as we go, we complete our tasks as best as we can, and then we go racing. At the moment, everything is speculation. I believe we won’t know the real values until Melbourne, and not even after a few races, because I think it all depends on the circuit and how the package behaves on different tracks. We’ll have to wait until everyone ‘drops their pants’ in qualifying, and then we’ll see.”
He continued to highlight the hard work done by the team during the winter: “The team has worked very hard over the winter, pushing on every aspect, especially considering we’re new even with our power unit. I think it’s been very challenging. I believe we’re doing well, but there’s still a lot of work and room for growth. So it’s still early. I hope we’ll be competitive, around mid-field, but we’ll see.”
As Audi prepares for its historic first start, the focus remains on reliability and software calibration for their brand-new engine. While Hulkenberg’s comments suggest a grounded expectations for the debut, the stability of the R26 during long runs indicates that Audi might be the dark horse of the 2026 midfield battle once the qualifying “reveal” finally takes place.
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