Alan McNish on Audi's problems in Miami

      The results of Audi F1 in the early races of the season are not impressive: so far, the new factory team, created based on Sauber, has only two points. The issue is not that the R26 car lacks speed, but the main problem remains its insufficient reliability.

      As reported by The Race, Audi is in 7th place in average speed, however, Gabriel Bortoleto has only finished 9th once, at the Australian Grand Prix, and in other cases, he finished outside the top ten.

      At the recent Miami event, the Brazilian was disqualified after the Saturday sprint, and on Sunday he finished the race in 12th place, while his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, did not start in the sprint at all – his car caught fire on the way to the grid, and during the Grand Prix, he returned to the pits on the 7th lap and did not return to the track.

      According to Alan McNish, the new racing director of the team, what happened before the sprint start is more related to a mistake made during the preparation of the equipment than to its insufficient reliability.

      "The cause of the fire was a technological fluid that got into the exhaust system," the Scot explained in an interview with The Race. "There was a problem before going out on track. We thought we had resolved it, but it wasn’t, and the fluid continued to get into the exhaust pipe. So the explanation is quite simple."

      Of course, such mistakes cannot be allowed, and this also applies to the reason why Bortoleto was disqualified after the sprint, where he finished 11th. After the short Saturday race, the FIA technical inspection revealed that the air pressure in the engine intake exceeded the maximum allowable limit of 4.8 bar.

      Allegedly, this happened due to overheating and, as McNish said, it did not provide any advantage, although he acknowledged that "you don’t argue with penalties; rules are rules."

      The difficulties continued later: in Saturday's qualifying, Bortoleto's car had a problem first with the brakes and then with the gearbox. In the case of Nico Hülkenberg, who completed only seven full laps on Sunday, the retirement was due to the fact that during the period when the peloton was driving behind the safety car, the gearbox on his Audi got stuck in first gear. McNish also explained that this was related to overheating of the transmission.

      Bortoleto drove the race confidently – starting from a distant 21st position and finishing 12th.

      "If he had started from a normal position, where he could qualify, i.e., just behind the top ten, then judging by his speed, he could have earned points," McNish believes. "The same applies to Nico; if his race had gone without problems. As for the pace, we looked confident in the first sector, but when we got into traffic, it was difficult to overtake...

      Gabriel had a decent race, handled all the tasks, and I don’t think he wouldn’t have been able to move up to higher positions."

      Additionally, there are difficulties related to not-so-successful starts, which McNish commented on: "Of course, we want to avoid these problems. But we are not the only ones facing them; other power unit manufacturers are too. For example, just think of Kimi Antonelli's starts...

      Undoubtedly, we have a lot to learn, as the others have been in the Formula 1 system for a long time and have managed to figure out about 75% of all issues (related to the new regulations). Clearly, we need to achieve improvements in many areas."