Tyre gamble backfires as Hülkenberg and Bortoleto finish 12th and 13th in Canada

Audi endured a challenging Canadian Grand Prix after a strategic misjudgment at the start left both Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto on the back foot.

The team opted to start both cars on Intermediate tyres despite the track being mostly dry, and with no further rain arriving, both drivers were forced to pit early to switch to slicks. The extra stop dropped them down the order, and the team spent the rest of the afternoon trying to recover lost ground.

Hülkenberg’s race became even more complicated when he received a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, and he later spun in the slippery conditions. Bortoleto, meanwhile, found himself running largely in free air, managing his pace and gathering data. Despite their efforts, neither driver was able to break into the points on a day when many of Audi’s midfield rivals capitalised.

Hülkenberg summarised the team’s struggles with clarity. He said: “It was a challenging race for us. Looking back, the conditions at the start evolved differently from what we expected: it was a risk worth taking with what we knew at the time, but in the end the opening phase didn’t really play out in our favour and that put us on the back foot quite early.”

He noted that the team lacked the pace to recover: “Even after that, we didn’t quite have the pace to recover in the way we wanted. Others around us managed to move forward more quickly, so there are definitely things for us to understand and improve there as well.”

Looking ahead, he added: “Overall, it’s been a demanding weekend with a lot to review. We’ll go through everything carefully, take the lessons from it and move on to Monaco!”

Bortoleto echoed the disappointment but highlighted the positives. He said: “It’s been a long race for us. We started on the intermediate tyres because we felt it could pay off, but the rain stopped pretty quickly and that ended up putting us on the back foot.”

He explained how the early stop shaped his race: “The extra stop dropped us out of contention, and from there it became a race in free air, mainly focused on managing our own pace.”

Still, he found encouragement: “Still, as a positive to take from today, we brought both cars home and collected important data for the team.”

And he believes more was possible: “It’s obviously a bit disappointing because with a clean weekend and a straightforward race, I think points could have been possible today, but that’s racing sometimes. Now, the focus shifts to Monaco.”

Racing Director Allan McNish reflected on the strategic call that shaped the team’s afternoon. He said: “Overall, the race was heavily influenced by the weather conditions and the tyre decisions at the start.

"It was a finely balanced call between compounds, and while we opted for the intermediate tyre, based on the information available at the time, in hindsight the delayed start ultimately meant it was not the ideal strategy.”

He acknowledged the difficulty of recovering: “From that point onwards, it was always going to be difficult to recover track position, and we ultimately finished P12 and P13.”

Still, McNish highlighted the positives: “While there are some positives to take from the weekend in terms of reliability and completing every session cleanly, there is still work to do to convert our pace into stronger race results.”

He also noted progress compared to Miami: “That said, we do leave Montreal feeling that we’ve taken a step forward compared to Miami, particularly in terms of consistency and overall execution across the weekend.”