After the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto discussed the team’s struggles to get the tyres into the optimal temperature range in cold conditions, which led to the decision to start the race on the intermediate tyre.
In the hours leading up to the start of the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, rain had been drizzling on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, leading some teams to the decision to start the race on the intermediate tyre. Along with McLaren and Cadillac, Audi decided to have both drivers head into the Canadian GP on the intermediates. A decision which, in hindsight, put the Audi driver on the back foot as the track had pretty much dried up at lights out.
Unable to go back on the tyre choice, Bortoleto was forced to pit on lap 2 to change to slicks. The early stop meant that the Brazilian dropped from his P13 starting position to the back of the pack. From there, the 21-year-old Audi pilot clawed back and finished the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, where he started in P13.
Coldest conditions experienced in F1, but not in Bortoleto’s entire career
With an air temperature of around 14 degrees Celsius, the Canadian GP marked the coldest race of the 2026 F1 season so far.
“No, my friend,” Bortoleto responded when asked whether the conditions at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP were the coldest he had ever raced in. Although Bortoletto reckoned it was true for his career in F1, comparing the experience inside the car with driving on ice.
“In my racing career, I was on the 2nd of January in Italy, racing with karting, minus 5 degrees, that’s the coldest, but definitely the coldest that I have been in a Formula 1 car, and it felt like ice, literally felt like ice.”
Bortoleto added that tyres felt “much worse” than he had expected.
“No, it was worse, it was much worse.”
Audi’s struggles led to the Canadian GP tyre choice
In the print media pen following the 2026 Canadian GP, Bortoleto explained that Audi struggles to bring its tyres “up to temperature” in colder conditions, whereas the car is “extremely good” at maintaining temperature in warmer conditions.
“It’s like driving on ice, but I mean, I cannot speak for everyone. I know our car is an extremely good car when we have hot conditions, because we are able to keep the tyres in a very good window. But when it’s cold, it’s super tough for us to bring them up to temperature.”
Aware of their struggles of getting the tyres into the right temperature window since the start of the 2026 F1 season, Audi opted to start on intermediates, believing they would have been “nowhere” on slicks, explains Bortoleto.
“And we have seen this already at the beginning of the season, where we have normally to do a bit more work on the tyres on a qualy lap or in a race. And that’s also why we decided to go on inters, because we believe that in that situation, maybe some other cars would have been able to start on slicks, but we would have been nowhere.”
Even if the decision to start the 2026 F1 Canadian GP on the intermediate tyre turned out to be the wrong one, Bortoleto believes that with the added formation laps, Audi would have struggled with poor grip levels on the slick, which could also have resulted in a drop in positions.
“Now I still think, ok, now on the hindsight it’s easy to say that the slicks were better, but us doing 3 laps, extra formation lap, extra formation lap, we would have been on ice for 3-4 laps, and everyone probably would have overtaken us, because we would have had zero grip.”
Bortoleto certain intermediate tyre was the right choice at the time
Realising that neither tyre choice would have helped and adding Audi’s general struggles with the race starts to the equation, Bortoleto suggested starting on the intermediate tyre. However, after a “decent” start to the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, it became clear that the tyre choice was not ideal, prompting an early pit stop on lap 2.
“No, and we know that we struggle in the start as well, so I said, ‘You know what, let’s try on the inters and let’s see what we can achieve here.’ And actually, the start was decent, but after that, we could see that the inters were just [not] too good for that moment of the race, and then we had to pit.”
When asked if choosing the intermediate tyre for the start of the 2026 F1 Canadian GP was an obvious decision, Bortoleto confirmed it was the right call, since it was still raining at the time.
“At that moment, yes, because it was raining quite a bit in the grid, and then after that it stopped raining as soon as we left to race.”
