Nico Hulkenberg delivered Audi's first Formula 1 world championship points on Sunday, finishing ninth in a hard-fought Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
The German, in his first season with the rebranded squad after Audi's takeover of Sauber, started 10th and used a two-stop strategy to set up a late charge on fresh soft tyres. He swept past team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad in the closing laps and took the flag two seconds behind Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls, collecting two points for ninth place.
The result ended an increasingly familiar source of frustration for Audi, who had the pace to score on several occasions during the opening half of the season but repeatedly came away empty-handed. "Obviously better to have points than not. It’s been a long time coming this season," Hulkenberg said. "There were many occasions and opportunities this year where it should've happened but it didn’t for various reasons, so that was annoying but that’s racing sometimes for you."
It was Hulkenberg's first top-10 finish of the campaign, and he admitted the team never doubted the breakthrough would arrive. "I and the team knew it’s there – it was just a matter of time and putting it together. Finally, the piece fell into place." The German added that a solid qualifying had been converted into the reward on race day.
The points lift Audi to eighth in the constructors' championship, ahead of Williams, heading into the summer break. It is also the third consecutive points-scoring round for the German manufacturer in their debut season, following Bortoleto's eighth places in Britain and Belgium.
Bortoleto's own afternoon was far tougher. The Brazilian gambled on a one-stop strategy that never quite worked, slipping to 11th and finishing less than a second behind Lindblad, agonisingly close to the points. Bortoleto said: "I think I gave it all. It obviously was not an easy race."
In a team statement, Audi praised Hulkenberg's "excellent drive" and a clean race that maximised the car's potential, with the squad heading into the shutdown with momentum before the season resumes at Zandvoort.
Sources
- — https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/its-been-a-long-time-coming-hulkenberg-reflects-on-scoring-first-points-for-audi-in-hungarian-gp.5JaHF3404ebIJQn5rbWhDm
- — https://www.audif1.com/news/2026/hungarian-grand-prix-day-3
