Gabriel Bortoleto and Audi faced several issues during the 2026 F1 Miami GP weekend. First, he was disqualified from the Sprint Race for exceeding the engine intake air pressure. His teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, wasn’t even able to start the Sprint due to a power unit issue.
The Sprint Race disqualification consequences for Bortoleto was a very limited running time in the qualifying session for the actual race. The result: one timed lap, brakes on fire, Q1 elimination, P22.
In the end, he finished the 2026 F1 Miami GP in P12 from 21st on the grid — missing out on points once again. Teammate Hülkenberg retired early from the race on lap 9.
Bortoleto on the 2026 F1 Miami GP: “It’s just a shame”
“The race had a good pace, to be honest,” said Gabriel Bortoleto after the 2026 F1 Miami GP. Even Audi’s Racing Director Allan McNish confirmed Bortoleto’s promising race pace. “We were very aligned with the feeling from what I heard from my engineer. So it’s just a shame to start in that position. If you start a bit more forward in the grid, not P21, it would definitely help to be fighting for the points. Yeah, just a shame,” summed up the Brazilian driver.
An issue-riddled weekend for the Audi F1 Team
Both Audi drivers Bortoleto and Hülkenberg suffered from more than one issue during the 2026 F1 Miami GP weekend. Unfortunately for the team, they were all different issues. “I don’t think we had a single issue that was similar,” recollected Bortoleto, “I think we had many, if I’m very honest, this weekend. But we haven’t had one that was the same.”
Gabriel Bortoleto seemed a bit flat. His weekends seem to yo-yo back and forth from being good to being terrible, with most of it out of his hands.
Only Australia has been a clean and good weekend for Bortoleto to date.
“It’s just that first weekend of the year for me, I had zero problems. And then you go to the second weekend, you have three. And then you go and you have zero again.”
Bortoleto claimed that these weekends are most likely going to keep happening until everyone is used to the new regulations. It is a brand new project for Audi also.
However, although it is still early in the season, it is tricky to have difficult weekends yo-yoing back and forth. Every point counts from the beginning.
“It keeps going like this until I think everyone gets mature with the new regulations. Obviously, I think it’s not easy to start the season in a good position. And then people create a lot of expectations. But things like this, they are going to happen,” said the 21-year-old Audi driver.
Patience needed for Audi F1 Team
Audi is a new engine manufacturer on the grid. As they only have two cars to get experience from, it is more difficult for them to gain valuable data and power unit insight.
“We are a new manufacturer of engine. We only have two cars. There are teams that are running eight cars with a power unit. So imagine the amount of learning you can get more by having that amount of cars. We have only me and Nico. And sometimes one of us are not finishing the race. So we just need to be patient. And when it will be fixed, I’m sure it will be good,” concluded Bortoleto.
