Speaking in a print media session after a mixed weekend for the Audi F1 Team in Singapore, Racing Director Allan McNish evaluated the team’s upcoming technical development and analysed how recent car upgrades perform across different circuit layouts.
While Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a DNF, Nico Hülkenberg delivered a resilient performance from P15 at the beginning of the race to cross the finish line in eighth place.
New upgrades and the Constructors’ Championship
Addressing questions regarding future upgrades for the upcoming triple-header, McNish explained that Audi plans to introduce new minor bits rather than anything big.
He highlighted that the team already introduced its major upgrade at the Azerbaijan GP, which serves as their main package for the remainder of the season.
“We’ve got a little bit of detail not wholesale. Our big upgrade was Baku which we’re running, you know, since then and that’s the main thing. It’s more, I would say, detail.”
He noted that rival teams like Racing Bulls and Alpine are preparing significant upgrades of their own as they fight for P5. Facing tight competition themselves, Audi currently sits P8 in the Constructors’ Championship, just behind Haas in seventh.
McNish stressed that alongside Alpine and the Racing Bulls, Audi is consistently fighting for the final point-scoring positions behind the top four teams. Car #27 pushed Liam Lawson all the way to the flag at Marina Bay.
“What I do know is that Racing Bulls are coming with something there. They’ve got something. Alpine as well.
“So that’s two big pushes from them because both of them, especially Alpine, just brought in something before. I suppose that’s the competitiveness of the fight in the midfield. It can be, you know, Haas were in there at a different point but without doubt I think consistently us, Alpine and Racing Bulls are fighting for this top 10 point behind Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.
“It just depends which one gets it right on the day.“
McNish on performance and team confidence at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
McNish firmly dismissed any doubt surrounding questions about the performance of Audi’s recent upgrades. He confirmed that intensive back-to-back testing in Azerbaijan and high-speed data collection in Malaysia validated their expectations.
While consecutive eleventh place finishes in Azerbaijan and Malaysia proved frustrating, Hülkenberg’s P8 finish in Singapore provided a big morale boost.
McNish emphasised that strong cornering performance at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP gives the team a positive outlook heading to the Grand Prix in Austin, where he is hopeful they can unleash their strong medium-speed strengths in the final part of the lap. Sector 1 will be a good test of their high-speed performance.
“Very good. Very good. There wasn’t really question marks. There were question marks from you guys but not from us. In Baku we were quite clear because we did the back-to-backs, we were quite clear.
“We went to that for both cars, understood what we had. We did another run in FP1 because it’s got higher speed in Kuala Lumpur and that’s something you don’t get in Baku. So we did our full spectrum of it.
“So we were quite clear on that. I think from the, I would say in English you keep your tail up, you know, from the confidence it was important because I cannot say that it wasn’t disappointing to be 11th in two consecutive races. Especially in Baku when Haas got some good results out of it.
“I think in Baku we were not quite as good as what we expected. Not because of the upgrades but I think the circuit characteristics it was cold, track temperatures and everything else were a bit different to what we thought and that was a little bit frustrating maybe in a way.
“But therefore to come away from it as you say, you look at the corner deltas we were pretty good right here. That gives you a lot of positivity going into COTA, Sector 1. If you think about that, think of the last sector there there’s some nice meaty medium-high speed stuff which is where we’re pretty good.”
