Audi Racing Director Allan McNish praised Gabriel Bortoleto's "cool and clean performance" after the Brazilian secured eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix, marking the first time Audi has won the unofficial midfield battle in its debut F1 season.
Bortoleto's P8 at Spa-Francorchamps matched the result he achieved at Silverstone two weeks earlier, but with a key difference: all drivers ahead of him came from the four frontrunning teams — Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. That made Audi the top midfield finisher for the first time this season.
The result was particularly significant because it came at a power-sensitive circuit where Audi's acknowledged power unit deficit was expected to be costly. However, the strength of the team's chassis and aerodynamic package propelled Bortoleto into Q3 and a top-ten grid slot.
Audi's starts have been a recurring weakness, and Bortoleto lost positions to Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto on the opening lap while gaining one from George Russell's early retirement. Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar, recovering from penalties, later pushed him back to P11. At that stage, scoring points looked challenging.
But Audi's strategy proved decisive. While midfield rivals Arvid Lindblad, Lawson and Colapinto pitted early, Audi kept Bortoleto out. The gamble paid off when a Virtual Safety Car period — the same one that aided Charles Leclerc at the front — allowed the German squad to pit both cars without losing track position.
Bortoleto emerged ahead of all his midfield rivals in P8 and held off Lindblad for the remainder of the race to secure valuable points.
"I was pleased to see that ultimately he could hold the gap relatively easily," McNish said. "We proved if we can be ahead of them, then we can actually finish ahead of them."
McNish also praised Bortoleto's composure under pressure. "He delivered a really cool and clean performance to the end of the race," he added.
At Silverstone, Bortoleto had finished behind both Racing Bulls cars, making the progress at Spa a clear step forward. "If you look at the last couple of races, we've been fighting with the Racing Bulls," McNish explained. "And we've been behind them from a qualifying point of view. This time we got ahead of them — not from qualifying, but from the pit stop under VSC — and then they kept us honest."
Attention now turns to the Hungaroring, a twisty circuit where power unit performance is less critical and which could suit the Audi chassis. McNish remained cautious but optimistic: "We'll be roughly fighting in and around that Racing Bulls/Alpine area at the top of the midfield. But to be in the position to do it, we've got to really deliver through qualifying and into the race. You can't drop the ball in any way whatsoever."
Sources
- https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/cool-and-clean-bortoletos-p8-in-spa-proved-audi-can-challenge-the-midfield.7qJ89cS0AIaOKOK3ldmH9F
