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.
That verdict matters because Austria was never expected to flatter the R26. The Red Bull Ring places heavy emphasis on power unit performance, and Audi is fully aware of its current deficit, with Team Principal Mattia Binotto having benchmarked it at as much as a second per lap at some venues. Even so, in a race where no car ahead retired, Audi finished just outside the points and was beaten in the midfield fight only by Racing Bulls.
As Bortoleto also reflected after the race, Audi appeared to have maximised its Austrian weekend despite the frustration of another near miss, a theme explored further in our report on Bortoleto’s Audi Austrian GP points near-miss.
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.
Simone Scanu
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.