Nico Hülkenberg: Everything was ruined by a bad start

      In Suzuka, the Audi team finished with two cars but did not earn any points…

      Nico Hülkenberg (11th): “I had a good pace and real chances for points, but everything was ruined by a bad start. In the coming weeks, we need to sort out the start. On the first lap, I lost several positions, dropping from 13th to 19th, and spent most of the race in traffic.

      These cars, considering energy management and overtaking dynamics, are quite challenging to handle. Overtaking has become easier, but immediately after, you find yourself vulnerable to a counter-attack.

      On the positive side – we managed to finish, gathering a large amount of information. We have a lot to work on and improve so that we can return to the fight in better shape in Miami in a month.”

      Gabriel Bortoleto (13th): “Overall, the race went quite well. The safety car deployment played to my advantage, the pace was decent, although there were issues on the straights. Unfortunately, today’s result was affected by a bad start – we knew from the first race that we needed to work on this.

      Now, with almost five weeks until the next race, we will try to make the most of this time to work together on the car and be in better shape for the Miami Grand Prix in May.”