Audi Mid-Season Review: A work in progress
- Chloe Buckley
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
As we prepare to head into the second half of the 2026 Formula One season after a lengthy summer break, our Formula One writers take you through the state of play with each team on the grid. Audi’s debut season hasn’t quite been the fairytale start that the Hinwil-based outfit would have hoped for, but there have been signs of promise throughout the first half of the campaign.
2026 marks Audi’s first season in F1 after taking over and rebranding from Sauber. Keeping the same, strong driver lineup from Sauber consisting of Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, they are off to a decent first half of the season.
It was announced in 2022 that Audi would be acquiring a stake in Sauber, and would be entering F1 by 2026 as a power unit manufacturer, at the same time as the regulation overhaul.
Former Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, took over as head of the Audi F1 project earlier this year following Jonathan Wheatley's departure in March. Under the guidance of Binotto, the team are fighting firmly in the mid-field, having scored points on multiple occasions and regularly making Q2 and Q3 appearances on Saturdays.
How has Audi fared so far in 2026?
If we take a look back to testing before the season began, the R26 showed no cause for concern as their days of testing went as planned, putting in a total of 700 laps aross the two separate sessions.
There was lots of anticipation for the new project to finally be making rounds on an F1 track, but the strong start did not immediately translate into results when the season began.
In the season opener in Melbourne, the team had some mixed results on their debut. Hülkenberg did not start the race, following a technical issue on the grid where he had to be wheeled back to the garage and was unable to compete in any of the 58 laps. The team still took home two points, with Bortoleto placing ninth in the team’s debut.
What followed Australia was a series of bad luck and poor results for the team, resulting in seven consecutive point-less races.
In China, Audi suffered an even more difficult weekend with Bortoleto not starting the race and Hülkenberg finishing outside of the points. Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco followed without a single points finish, before Barcelona provided the clearest indication that Audi had some pace, with Hülkenberg qualifying in the top 10. However, the race came with another strike of bad luck, which meant they were unable to convert it into results.
The team continued to miss out in Austria, before Silverstone ended the drought and Bortoleto managed to claim his season-best eighth place finish, bagging four points in his campaign as well as for Audi.
This luck continued for Bortoleto as he matched this result the following race weekend in Belgium, with Hülkenberg fighting to his best ability, but having to settle for 13th in another point-less weekend for him.
Ahead of Hungary, which was the final race before the summer break, Audi brought some upgrades to their package, with track specific aerodynamic changes that featured revised rear wing endplates and some other minor performance tweaks. It was not a full power unit upgrade, due to cost caps, however, their changes at the Hungaroring certainly helped as we saw Hülkenberg pick up his first two points of the season, and Bortoleto wasn’t too far off a top 10 finish either.
Drivers' Head-to-Head Performance
Taking a look at the drivers’ head-to-head in their second season as a team, it looks like the positions have flipped compared to last year as Hülkenberg is now outqualifying Bortoleto on Saturdays. He’s qualified ahead of his teammate six times this year, with Bortoleto taking the better position five times.
Unfortunately for the German, he has been unable to convert Saturday’s pace into race pace. Bortoleto has outperformed his teammate seven times to four on Sundays, taking a majority of the team’s points currently.
In the standings, Bortoleto has tallied up 10 points scored across three races, placing him 14th in the drivers’ standings. On the flip, Hülkenberg has only taken two points for the team, with Hungary being the only race he has taken a top 10 finish. This places him 18th in the standings.
Hülkenberg’s four retirements doesn’t help his case in these head-to-heads, compared to Bortoleto only failing to reach the chequered flag once this year in China. However, his ability to finally score points heading into the summer break maybe shows some improvements for the car going ahead.
Best Moments
As we reach the half-way point in the season, Audi’s best results have come at Silverstone and Spa, with Bortoleto finishing eighth in both races. The Brazillian collected and four points at each race, accounting for eight of Audi’s 12 points this season.
Belgium was a big talking point for Audi, with Bortoleto qualifying eighth and maintaining his position throughout the race. Hülkenberg wasn’t too far off the pace as he finished in 13th, showing signs that Audi could make a bigger impact in the mid-field come the second half of the season.
This became even clearer after Hungary, where Hülkenberg had his season-best finish in ninth place, picking up his first two points of the season. The upgrades that Audi brought to the Hungaroring proved to be beneficial, and it proves that we should be keeping an eye on the team following the summer break.
Worst Moments
As previously mentioned, Hülkenberg has failed to finish the race four separate occasions. The opening round in Australia marked the first, with Miami, Barcelona, Silverstone and other technical problems all contributing to a difficult first half to the season.
In a moment that is probably the most unlucky and bizarre way to retire from a race, Hülkenberg was racing against Liam Lawson in Barcelona, who was up ahead of him in ninth, battling for his first points of the season.
On Lap 28 of the race, Lawson ran wide into Turn 12, running one of his tyres into the gravel. This sent a piece of gravel flying up into Hülkenberg’s R26, hitting the car’s safety fire
switch, or in other words killswitch, completely shutting down Hülkenberg’s machinery.
It was an especially frustrating retirement considering he was in contention for valuable points before the incident. Audi left Barcelona without a point, despite showing some of its strongest pace across the weekend.
The wider problem for Audi has been their inability to consistently convert promising qualifying performances into Sunday results. Comparing them to another mid-field team like Racing Bulls, they lack the same consistency and reliability from the car week-in and week-out.
Looking Ahead
Audi’s main goal following the summer break should be working on their consistency. 12 points from the opening 11 Grands Prix leaves them eighth in the constructors’ standings, but the gap to Haas up ahead only being a nine-points margin means that they still have the chance to climb the order.
Following Bortoleto’s finishes in Silverstone and Spa, and Hülkenberg’s ninth place finish in Hungary provides some encouragement that the team’s work is finally starting to pay off.
The team will also be hoping that the improvements to the R26 can continue to translate into stronger race results as the season progresses. With Audi still adapting as a full works team and power unit manufacturer, there is an inevitable learning curve. On the bright side, the recent results show that there is potential for the team to be regular points scorers.
There’s still plenty of work to be done, and 12 races left to do it. No matter what, Audi’s first season in F1 should be viewed as a work in progress rather than a failure. If they can build momentum and avoid the reliability issues that have hindered their campaign, the Hinwil-based outfit could find themselves climbing the mid-field order before the season comes to a close.
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