Audi Revolut F1 Team completed 103 laps across Friday’s two practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with Gabriel Bortoleto finishing FP2 in 12th and Nico Hülkenberg in 13th. Hülkenberg had placed 10th in the opening session with a 1:39.211, while Bortoleto was 13th on a 1:39.548. Both improved their times in FP2, with Bortoleto’s 1:39.051 putting him just 0.058 seconds ahead of his teammate. The afternoon results left Audi behind Racing Bulls and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, but ahead of both Haas cars.
Heat, limited grip and high tire degradation complicated the field’s return to Sepang, giving Audi plenty to work through before qualifying. Hülkenberg completed 53 laps across the day and said revisiting the circuit after several years required some reacclimatization. “We worked through the programme and gathered a lot of information, but there are still a few areas we need to understand a bit better,” he said. His overnight priorities were finding more grip and improving the R26’s balance.
Bortoleto’s afternoon was more eventful. Formula 1 reported that he had to abandon a flying lap after encountering Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari on the racing line, an incident that resulted in a warning for Hamilton. He subsequently ran wide while attempting to pass Arvid Lindblad and asked Audi to check the floor, before stopping beside the track with an apparent gearbox issue in the final two minutes. That stoppage prompted a Virtual Safety Car, although Bortoleto said the late problem had not cost him meaningful running time.
Despite those interruptions, Bortoleto described Friday as a positive start after completing 50 laps and evaluating several test items between sessions. Audi’s closely matched FP2 times provide a useful starting point, but reaching the top 10 will require further improvement: Bortoleto finished 0.463 seconds behind Gasly in 10th. With both drivers identifying room to improve, the focus now shifts to converting Friday’s mileage into a better setup for FP3 and qualifying.
“Coming back to Sepang after so many years meant there was plenty to learn again, and the heat definitely added another challenge. We worked through the programme and gathered a lot of information, but there are still a few areas we need to understand a bit better. We’ll go through everything overnight and see where we can find a bit more grip and balance.”
“It was an interesting day, and thankfully the issue we had at the end of FP2 didn’t cost us time. We had a few items to test going from FP1 to FP2, and, overall, we can be quite satisfied with our work. There are still some areas where we can improve, so we’ll work through the data tonight and try to make a few steps forward for tomorrow. But overall, it was a good day and a positive start to the weekend.”
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