The Audi team looks back on a chaotic Saturday in Miami. Both Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were plagued by technical problems. The German could not participate in the sprint race because his engine caught fire on the way to the starting grid. In qualifying, Bortoleto suffered when his brakes overheated. While the mechanics patched up both cars, Hülkenberg joked that Audi will have to put out fires more often.
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Hülkenberg caused a sensation on the way to the sprint grid when his engine suddenly caught fire. It was the third retirement for Audi, which debuted in the sport this year and has only raced four weekends so far. The team replaced the engine and the rear axle, after which the German veteran qualified eleventh for the main race.
Teammate Bortoleto was able to participate in the sprint but was eventually disqualified due to a violation regarding intake pressure. The team attributed this to the tropical conditions in Miami. Before qualifying, the team performed a gearbox change, but in Q1 the Brazilian stalled again, this time with overheated brakes.
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Young factory team
According to Hülkenberg, such setbacks are entirely due to the fact that Audi uses a still unproven power unit. “We had to put out quite a few fires today, with both cars,” joked the German to the press. “So there is definitely still a lot of work to do. At the same time, it is still early in the season,” he added. “We have raced three times, then had a long break, and now we are already at race four. It is still relatively early.”
About the problems plaguing Audi: “Would we rather not have them? Of course. Am I surprised that we are running into this? Probably not. As a team, we have only just started developing our own engines. Moreover, we are the only team running this power unit; we only have two cars. So it is not strange that we are dealing with these kinds of problems.”
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