Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Audi arrives in Montreal under pressure to show that its early promise can survive a clean weekend, with the Canadian Grand Prix’s sprint format and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s layout set to test the team exactly where it has looked most vulnerable.
The team has scored only two points so far in 2026, both taken by Gabriel Bortoleto on his debut in Australia. That opening result came with signs of a deeper problem, and Miami brought it back into focus. Nico Hülkenberg suffered a double retirement and did not start the Sprint, while Bortoleto ran into brake trouble in Sprint Qualifying after showing pace that suggested Audi could fight for points.
That leaves Montreal as less of a fresh start than an immediate examination. The circuit’s heavy braking zones, traction demands and long straight before the finish all put pressure on the same areas that have troubled Audi’s car: braking, traction and engine performance.
Hülkenberg said Audi’s priority is simple after Miami. “After Miami, the main thing for us is to reset quickly and put together a cleaner weekend overall,” Hülkenberg said. “We know there is potential to do well, but it is about delivering from the beginning to the end of the event.”
The German, still without a point this season, also pointed to the extra difficulty of the format. Sprint weekends compress preparation time and raise the cost of any early mistake, which is a particular concern for a team trying to solve reliability and execution issues at the same time. Hülkenberg said sprint events “always make things more hectic,” making it important for Audi to build confidence early.
Bortoleto struck a similar note, tying Audi’s target in Canada to getting on top of the car immediately. “After racing here last year, I know how important it is to feel comfortable with the car from the very first moment, especially in a sprint event,” Bortoleto said.
He said the objective is “to put everything together more cleanly than we did at the last round and maximize the track time we have from the start of the weekend.” In practice, that means avoiding the kind of interruptions that wrecked Miami and making the most of the lone practice session before competitive running begins.
For Audi, that is the real measure of the weekend. A team that has already shown flashes of points-scoring pace now has to prove it can execute across a full event on a circuit that exposes its weaknesses, because another disrupted weekend would deepen the pressure on a season that has yet to move beyond Australia’s early promise.