Audi's Austin Woes: Hulkenberg's Anti-Stall Frustration and a Familiar P11 Finish

Nico Hulkenberg's quest for points at the United States Grand Prix ended in familiar fashion, with another P11 finish for Audi. It's the third time in four races that the German has narrowly missed out on points, a recurring theme for Audi this season. Despite a promising upgrade package introduced in Baku, the team has only managed to score once in recent outings, thanks to Hulkenberg's P8 in Singapore.

The weekend was always going to be challenging, especially with Gabriel Bortoleto starting at the back due to numerous penalties for new power unit components. On the bright side, Bortoleto now has a sufficient parts pool to see out the season. Meanwhile, Hulkenberg started from P11 but faced an unexpected setback with a poor start compounded by an anti-stall issue.

"You can’t call that a bad start," Hulkenberg remarked. "It went into anti-stall, so yeah, that’s more than a bad start. It felt odd. I need to go back and see what happened."

Audi's reliability has been a sticking point this season, particularly their power unit. As the sole team running this unit, Audi lacks the extensive data available to powerhouses like Mercedes and Ferrari. However, reliability has improved recently, with Silverstone marking the last race Hulkenberg failed to finish. Yet, starting woes persist, consistently putting the team on the back foot.

"We were close pace-wise with Pierre [Gasly] and Liam [Lawson], but after that start, I’m not sure we could have done much more," Hulkenberg admitted.

Currently, Audi sits eighth in the Constructors' Championship, trailing Haas by seven points. Though they often outpace their American rivals, opportunities for scoring have been scarce.

For Bortoleto, the race was a test of perseverance. Starting from the back, he managed to climb to 13th, overtaking several cars along the way. "We did a good race, overtook some cars, kept it clean," Bortoleto said. "Obviously, it is difficult to recover everything starting from the back."

Despite frequent finishes just outside the points, Audi has reasons to be optimistic. They've taken a solid approach with their car upgrades and have a driver duo that works well together. They've also navigated the transition following Jonathan Wheatley's departure as Team Principal. With these elements in place, Audi is well-positioned to tackle 2027 with an eye on climbing the order and consistently challenging for points.