Audi racing director Allan McNish highlighted Nico Hülkenberg’s racecraft and experience after the German delivered a strong performance at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, holding off George Russell in the closing stages to help the team secure a valuable points haul.
Hülkenberg enjoyed a very strong weekend in Singapore, finishing P7 in the chaotic Sprint on Saturday, and subsequently following that up with a P8 in the race, securing a total of 6 points across the weekend. On the other side of the garage, however, it was a weekend to forget for Gabriel Bortoleto, who ultimately failed to finish both the Sprint and Sunday’s race due to circumstances beyond his control.
McNish hails Hülkenberg’s racecraft at 2026 F1 Singapore GP
A resilient drive from Hülkenberg saw him keep Russell at bay for several laps in the late stages of the race to cross the line eighth, ahead of the Mercedes driver. For McNish, it was the German’s experience and clever racecraft that made the difference when Audi needed to protect its result.
McNish reflected on Hülkenberg’s strong outing after the race, saying, “It was a really good weekend for him, not just necessarily today, but the way he delivered in SQ yesterday, the race, and then today, just showed his width of experience.
“And also, I would say his racing brain, because at the end, 10 laps with George [Russell], who was clearly quicker, but to be able to be quick at the right points in the circuit, defend well, but not over-defend.
“And so I think he really played a really good game, and then ultimately was able to actually pull away from George and start to catch up a wee bit on Lawson.”
The Audi racing director also credited the team’s overall execution for the result.
“So that was an excellent result there, from points, from the way that the team executed it, from the pit stop, from the undercut, from everything actually worked really, really well on that side of the garage,” McNish added.
Bortoleto retirement leaves Audi with mixed feelings
Bortoleto’s Singapore weekend ended in disappointment after he suffered damage when another car hit him from behind during Saturday’s Sprint Safety Car restart, before a gearbox issue forced him to retire from Sunday’s race after just seven laps.
Asked whether the two were connected, McNish admitted he doesn’t believe the earlier contact may have somehow led to the gearbox failure, though he acknowledged it was a troubling development and something Audi will need to look into.
“Don’t think so,” he said.
“Honestly, I don’t think so, because it was relatively superficial in terms of bodywork damage, and it wasn’t a big hit—it was enough to damage, take all the floor off, but it wasn’t enough to, I would expect to have done something like that. But we need to understand what that was, because it clearly took him out of the chance…And with the performance that we had, now, being where he was, I don’t think it was going to be easy to be in the points—but with the performance that he had, then I think he would have been getting up there.”
Audi pleased with “milestone” points haul
Although McNish acknowledged that Bortoleto faced a difficult task in reaching the points, he felt the Brazilian had shown enough pace to give Audi another opportunity to score.
However, he mostly focused on the positives, highlighting that Singapore produced the “biggest” points haul for Audi so far.
McNish continued: “That was, like I say, a bittersweet in some respects, but we can’t take away from the six points that we’ve got this weekend, which is the biggest haul that we’ve ever had.
“It’s the first time we’ve scored in a Sprint, first time we’ve scored in two races over the course of a weekend—obviously, because we scored in a Sprint. So it’s another, I would just say, milestone in terms of where we’re going, but after the last two races, personally, after the last two races where we lost a point on the last lap twice, then it was actually, I think, something that everybody in the garage, both sides of the garage, appreciated the defence that Nico had on it. He wasn’t going to lose that one.”
On Mercedes’ struggles to make progress in the closing stages of the race
Russell’s inability to make a successful move on Hülkenberg in the closing stages of the Singapore GP also caught McNish’s attention.
Despite the Mercedes driver having fresher tyres and superior pace, McNish expected to have a reasonable chance of holding on if he could survive the initial attack.
McNish also responded to a remark made by Toto Wolff, about Audi capitalising on Russell’s chase by receiving extra airtime, relayed to him by the press.
“That was very nice of Toto,” he commented. “We got airtime because we were ahead of one of his cars I suppose. But there I thought that he had two or three laps and if he didn’t overtake Nico in two or three laps then Nico was able to defend.
“And that was the case actually. Because he was very good at the points on the circuit that he needed to be. And actually once the freshness of the tyre… because there was a tyre delta because George had much fresher tyres. So, once the freshness of that had gone then actually he didn’t have the performance to be able to overtake like he did with Gasly. And so I think there we can be quite happy on our side. But like I said, two or three laps and then that would have been it settled down which was ultimately the case.
“I suppose that’s the first Audi-Merc battle. I never thought of that,” McNish added.
McNish encouraged by late-race Audi triumph at Singapore GP
The Audi race director continued: “(…) At the end, George was out of position wasn’t he? But it showed how difficult it was to come through; Hadjar as well.
“It wasn’t easy to come through so the delta and speed that they had was negated in the race quite quickly. And that was maybe more of a surprise than we expected before the race. Because I expected George to cut through—Hadjar less so, but George to cut through. But even Hadjar, once he got in clean air, couldn’t catch. It was still staying at 4.5 seconds behind George. So at that point in the last 10 laps of the race we were equal to a Red Bull and equal to a Mercedes. Which, it’s not bad. We’ll keep that.”
