Audi evaluated the team’s performance this weekend at the Formula 1 Chinese GP as positive. Jonathan Wheatley, team principal, praised the effort of the mechanics and engineers: “I want to start by thanking the team for the hard work today. There was a large list of tasks in the garage between the Sprint race and the qualifying session, mainly fixing Nico’s car, and they did a great job to get both cars ready in time for the session,” said Wheatley.
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The director also highlighted Emma’s debut in the F1 Academy: “It was great to see Emma deliver a confident race in the first F1 Academy race in 2026. Starting from P6, she made great overtaking maneuvers to reach P3, securing her first podium of the year,” he stated.
Nico Hulkenberg had a complicated Sprint, not finishing the race, but recovered in the qualifying session, securing 11th position in a very tight session: “The margins were incredibly tight today, only two thousandths separated us from Q3. Overall, it was a clean session and we will move on from here. The focus will be on keeping everything clean, avoiding mistakes and making the most of any opportunity in the race,” said the German driver.
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As for Gabriel, according to Wheatley, he had a good performance but ended up overdoing it on the last corner of the final lap: “Gabi was on a good final lap, but pushed a bit too hard on the last corner and ended up in the gravel. Overall, it was a clean session for the team and now our focus turns to the race,” concluded the team principal.
Hulkenberg highlighted that, with the cars still relatively new, there is much to take in at each session: “We will review everything tonight and fight hard tomorrow,” he finished.
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