Audi was able to leave satisfied from the Belgian Grand Prix of Formula 1 this Sunday (19). Although Nico Hülkenberg finished outside the points zone, Gabriel Bortoleto crossed the finish line in eighth place.
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The Brazilian started eighth in Spa-Francorchamps, lost positions at the beginning of the race, but soon recovered ground and crossed the finish line within the points zone, adding four more to the championship.
“I am extremely happy with today’s result. I think we extracted the maximum from everything we had this weekend, and that is due to the incredible effort of the whole team. Achieving this in front of our colleagues from the bases in Hinwil, Bicester, and Neuburg makes everything even more special: they worked hard to get us where we are, and it’s great to share this moment with them,” he said.
“These consecutive points represent a great boost for all of us. It’s an excellent feeling to know that we have the conditions to achieve results like this and continue fighting among the top ten. That’s where we want to be and where we deserve to be, and we will keep striving to achieve more — starting with Budapest, in a week, to close the first part of the season on a high,” he continued.
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Meanwhile, his German teammate managed to run inside the top-10, but finished the tenth stage of 2026 only in 13th, still unable to score points this season. “There was a lot of fighting in the midfield today, but we paid the price for starting very far back and also for losing some positions at the start, which made the race even more difficult. From there, it would always be complicated to recover ground,” he said.
“The positive side is that our race pace was competitive and we were always in the middle of the fight. The Virtual Safety Car gave us a few seconds, but it probably needed to last a little longer. Instead, I returned to the track right behind Pierre [Gasly] and Liam [Lawson], ended up stuck in that fight and, with our lack of speed on straights, it was difficult to advance further. The pace itself seemed very good by our standards, so it’s something positive we take from here, even though we need to review some other areas,” he continued.
“It’s great to see Gabriel scoring for the team. It’s a very well-deserved result and another positive outcome for everyone. I hope we can carry this momentum to Budapest, have a clean weekend on my side of the garage, and give ourselves the chance to fight further up the pack,” he concluded.
