Although he did not score points, Gabriel Bortoleto was a standout performer at the 2026 F1 Austrian GP. He finished P11.
Despute Audi lacking engine power, something which is exposed big time at the Red Bull Ring, the Brazilian was a strong P12 on Saturday. The 21-year-old was 0.318s faster than teammate Nico Hülkenberg in Q2.
In the race, he maintained P12 on the opening lap, before passing Esteban Ocon on lap 7. The Audi driver was only one of two drivers who started on softs.
As the race progressed, he kept the Racing Bulls F1 duo honest. Undercuts were tried at both stops but ultimately a tenth or two was missing to properly challenge Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
When the chequered flag fell, he ended up 11.2s behind the British driver, and almost 15s to the New Zealander.
Gabriel Bortoleto pleased with his performance in 2026 F1 Austrian GP
Speaking in the print media pen afterwards, he agreed with the assessment that P11 was the maximum result considering the drivers from the top five teams on pace all weekend finished the Grand Prix.
“Yeah, indeed.
“I think I gave it all, I think we were very close to the VCARBs all the time, I think I managed to stay on the 5 second gap the whole race.
“And at the end I had to let some cars by, so I lost a bit of that gap, but I think it was a bit surprising. We didn’t maybe expect it to be that close to them, I think our pace showed up to be a bit better.
“Also, finally I did one good start this season, so that’s a happy thing for me.
“So yeah, I think we have been doing some improvements in the car, and that worked out this weekend, so I’m quite happy.”
Asked about getting Gasly at the start, he confirmed it. While Esteban Ocon did pass him on the opening lap, it only took a further six tours to get P11.
“I got him on the start, and then I think I lost to Ocon in T3, but then I recovered quite quickly.”
Big improvement off the line
Since the start of the season, Audi have massively struggled off the line, consistently losing multiple places on the opening lap. This time, however, Gabriel Bortoleto did not lose any positions on lap 1 of the 2026 Austrian GP.
When asked if he felt it was him getting acclimatised to the processes, the Brazilian felt it was more the team trying to solve the glaring weaknesses on the car side regarding launches.
“No, I think we have been working a lot on the starts, I think we have been evolving our procedure.
“Obviously it depends a lot who you are starting side by side as well, I feel like the cars around me, I don’t know, Pierre didn’t seem to have the best start from his side, and I had a very good start from my side, so I managed to get him there.
“So, I don’t know, maybe if I was starting side by side with Ferrari power units, or Colapinto that normally has very good starts, it would have been different, but I felt that it was quite decent.”
