Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Audi left Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix with far more to show than it managed at the end of its frustrating Monaco weekend, as Gabriel Bortoleto climbed to eighth in FP2 and Paul Aron impressed with sixth in FP1 in Nico Hülkenberg’s car.
That made Barcelona Audi’s most encouraging day since Monaco, where the team felt its pace had not been reflected in the result after problems on Bortoleto’s car and Hülkenberg’s penalty for contact with Carlos Sainz. Racing director Allan McNish had said before the weekend that Monaco was proof the team was still making progress, and Friday’s running backed that up.
Bortoleto’s turnaround was the clearest sign. After ending FP1 in 12th and admitting he was not comfortable with the car, the Brazilian responded to set-up changes between sessions by moving into the top 10 in FP2. “FP2 was definitely an encouraging step,” Bortoleto said. “FP1 felt a bit strange for me, as I wasn't feeling very comfortable with the car: we made a few changes between the sessions, and that helped bring my confidence back.”
He said the adjustments had the effect Audi wanted. “The balance improved, the pace was there and, overall, the feeling was much better,” he added. “There's still some fine-tuning to do ahead of tomorrow, but we're in a more positive window heading into the rest of the weekend.”
Aron provided the other standout performance of the day when he took over Hülkenberg’s car in FP1 to satisfy the FIA’s young-driver requirement. On his first outing in a 2026 Formula 1 car, the Estonian finished sixth and completed the full planned workload for the team.
“It was a very successful FP1 for me with the Audi Revolut F1 Team,” Aron said. “We completed the full run plan, which was important for the team, and to finish the session with competitive pace was a nice bonus.”
Hülkenberg’s Friday was always going to be more complicated because he only had FP2 to work with after sitting out the opening session. He finished 11th and focused less on headline pace than on getting through the programme cleanly and building an initial picture of the car at Barcelona in hot conditions.
“It was a reasonable day overall,” Hülkenberg said. “With just the one session for me, the priority was to get through the programme and get a first read on the car around this circuit, which we managed to do without any issues.” He said the team would study the data overnight and return with a plan for the rest of the weekend.
With Aron sixth in FP1, Bortoleto eighth in FP2 and Hülkenberg close behind despite limited running, Audi treated Friday as a solid first step and heads into Saturday chasing more performance and a possible place in Q3.