Gabriel Bortoleto has been enjoying a very positive 2026 Formula 1 season with Audi. In an exclusive conversation with F1MANIA.NET, the Brazilian admitted that he expected the German team’s debut in the category to be more difficult, but the work has been impressive.
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At the end of 2025, Sauber said goodbye to the grid to make way for the German manufacturer. And if the start of the journey in the pack was expected to be complicated, the numbers have been impressive: in 11 rounds, they managed to score points in four, three of them with Gabriel, and are eighth in the Constructors’ Championship with 12 points, nine less than Haas, eighth.
So, during a KitKat event, F1MANIA.NET was able to have an exclusive conversation with Bortoleto. When asked if Audi’s good performance in Formula 1 is a surprise, the Brazilian admitted that he expected things to be more difficult, but praised all the internal work done since round 1.
“Look, I’ll be honest, we always try to keep expectations low within the team because there is no reason for us to come shouting that we are going to start winning races and podiums, this or that. Our intention is to build a long-term project, so I honestly expected our first year to be more difficult than it is, I think we started the season very well, with points, with Q3, something impressive,” he said.
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“Then, we went through a complicated moment with some breakdowns, with some things that were out of my hands, Nico’s [Hülkenberg], even the team’s, unfortunately some things that happened. But because of the incredible work the engineers did, we managed to understand what needed to be done on the car, what needed to be improved, we have been working on several things, one of them is the start, which we know is something we have suffered a lot from and continue to suffer from, but we have already improved a lot,” he continued.
“And that’s it, I think we are starting to be more and more consistent there in Q3, fighting for points, today directly competing with Racing Bulls, I would say that is the main team we are competing with and that’s it. I’m happy,” he concluded.
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