Bortoleto Applauds Audi’s Effort in Securing Consecutive P8 Finishes

Gabriel Bortoleto has become something of a beacon for Audi, clinching a valuable P8 finish at the Belgian Grand Prix and maintaining his status as the team's sole points scorer. This marks Audi’s first instance of consecutive points finishes this season, following a similar result in Great Britain. Bortoleto was full of praise for the team's "incredible" efforts, which have pulled Audi into the thick of the midfield competition.

Audi had kicked off their campaign with a promising ninth-place finish in Australia, only to be plagued by a streak of bad luck, narrowly missing the points with three consecutive 11th-place finishes in Monaco, Barcelona, and Austria. This unfortunate run saw them slip behind in the standings. However, a turning point came at Silverstone, where the 21-year-old driver advanced three spots to achieve his season's best result, a feat he repeated in Belgium with another impressive Q3 qualification.

"I'm extremely happy," Bortoleto remarked after the race. "I think that’s everything we could achieve this weekend. The team did an incredible job, and it's great to perform like this in front of over 500 employees from Switzerland, Bicester, and Neuburg who came to support us. It was a fantastic result for us."

The Belgian Grand Prix also served as a milestone, marking four years since Audi announced their Formula 1 ambitions. Bortoleto's performance was a timely reminder of the strides Audi has made since then. When asked about the impact on the team, he noted, "I hope it's a big boost. For me, it’s certainly motivating. It’s incredible to consistently deliver results and compete for points."

While Bortoleto and teammate Nico Hulkenberg demonstrated their ability to tussle with the likes of Racing Bulls and Alpine, Hulkenberg is still chasing his first points of the season. Despite a strong fight with Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, and Liam Lawson towards the race's end at Spa-Francorchamps, Hulkenberg finished 13th, not helped by a sudden hydraulic leak during qualifying.

Audi's reliability issues have been a recurring theme for Hulkenberg, who has come close to the top 10 in every race except for retirements in Miami, Barcelona, and Great Britain. Reflecting on his Belgian race, Hulkenberg stated, "It was okay; lots of battling in the midfield, but I was on the back foot from starting too far back. Both our cars lost ground on Lap 1, making things tougher. However, the performance is there, and we were competitive in the midfield fight. We seemed to be best of the rest with Racing Bulls, which is encouraging."