McNish calls Austria Audi’s best weekend despite another points near-miss

Audi finds progress without points

Audi left the Austrian Grand Prix still searching for its first points since a ninth-place finish in the 2026 season opener in Australia, but Allan McNish saw something more significant than the final classification. Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg finished P11 and P12 at the Red Bull Ring, narrowly outside the top 10, yet the team’s Racing Director described it as the Hinwil squad’s best weekend of the year.

Upgrades deliver as reliability stabilises

After a run affected by non-starts and technical issues, the R26s ran cleanly in Austria. Just as importantly, Audi’s significant aerodynamic upgrade package behaved as expected, giving the team a more stable platform to judge its progress.

McNish said: “To be honest, I think it was our best weekend so far in terms of all the runs through Free Practice, Qualifying, race, getting the maximum out of the car.”

He acknowledged that the circuit characteristics made the task harder, adding: “Performance around this circuit was always going to be a little bit trickier, although we brought the upgrades, and they actually tallied up pretty well. But the VCARBs were quicker. End of story.”

For McNish, the close finishing positions of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg underlined that Audi had extracted what was available. “They delivered everything out of it, and so there wasn’t really much else that we could have done beyond where we are at the moment,” he said.

Power unit work and Silverstone optimism

Audi’s power unit development continues at Neuberg, though McNish stressed that major gains will take time. He called the unit robust now that early teething issues have been addressed, noting that small improvements introduced for Barcelona had helped.

Austria also brought another positive: the team’s best starts of the season. McNish admitted starts have not been Audi’s strongest area, but said both drivers launched well and put the team in a better position.

Looking ahead, McNish believes Silverstone should suit Audi more than Austria, describing it as closer to Barcelona in its performance demands. If execution remains at this level, Audi’s next opportunity may come when the circuit profile gives the R26 more of a fighting chance.