Audi ended Friday (11) of practice for the Spanish GP of Formula 1 with both its cars inside the top-13 on the new Madrid circuit. Nico Hülkenberg was ninth in FP1 and finished FP2 in 12th, while Gabriel Bortoleto was 11th and 13th, respectively.
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The first day at Madring mainly served for the team to get to know the characteristics of the new layout and gather information for the rest of the weekend. Hülkenberg completed 26 laps in the first session and another 22 in the second, while Bortoleto accumulated 27 and 25 laps.
Hülkenberg highlighted precisely the amount of work done throughout the two sessions. For the German, the circuit is quite unique, with a very fast layout and little room for mistakes: “It was an interesting first day on a completely new circuit. There was a lot to learn and explore, and it is definitely a unique track. It’s incredibly fast, almost like a roller coaster, with very little room for errors, so it keeps you alert throughout the lap,” he said.
The Audi driver also explained that the next step will be to analyze the data collected during the practice sessions. The team will have the night to understand what worked and define the adjustments for Saturday. “We gathered a lot of information, and now it’s a matter of analyzing everything overnight, understanding what we learned, and seeing how we can use that to improve even more,” Hülkenberg added.
On the other side of the garage, Bortoleto had a similar performance in the results, finishing the day 11th and 13th. The Brazilian also emphasized the importance of getting to know the new circuit and pointed out that there is still work ahead to extract more performance from the car.
F1 holds the third free practice and qualifying for the Spanish GP on Saturday.
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