Audi Racing Director Allan McNish believes the team showed stronger race pace than its qualifying result suggested at the Formula 1 (F1) Azerbaijan GP, despite a challenging weekend in Baku.
The team struggled to maximise its performance over one lap on Friday before showing improved pace during Saturday’s race. However, tyre performance and the challenge of defending on Baku’s long main straight ultimately limited what the team could achieve.
McNish points to tyre preparation after qualifying struggles
Both Audi drivers failed to get into Q2 at the F1 Azerbaijan GP, but neither could complete their final attempt after Lance Stroll went off at Turn 15 and brought out the yellow flags.
While McNish acknowledged that the interruption cost both drivers their final laps, he admitted the team had not shown the same qualifying performance as in recent rounds. They have been regularly close to or getting into Q3.
“I think overall, yes. There are two things qualifying. First of all, they didn’t get their last lap, both cars, because they were lying astern because of Stroll into 15. And Stroll went off there and then it was yellow and that was it. OK, the performance overall wasn’t where we have been in the last couple of races. And so from that perspective, even though we got into Q2, we would not have necessarily been at the front of Q2. I think that’s quite clear yesterday. The conditions today were quite different, track conditions, everything else.
“And we’re very competitive in the race. I think you could see the speed in the race was good on both cars. And so from that perspective, looking back, it’s a Yeah, I just don’t think we kind of got it right with the tyre side of things, getting them on. Because everybody was doing long runs on the tyre, trying to get the lap time. It wasn’t as if you were out doing one lap. You were having to do multiple laps. And we were on the wrong end of that. That’s both cars.”
Soft tyre performs better than expected in Baku
Tyre performance also played an important role during the race, with the soft compound proving more competitive than it had appeared during Friday running. The medium and hard compounds offered greater longevity, but McNish explained that the soft tyre’s improved performance made the preferred strategy relatively straightforward during the F1 Azerbaijan GP.
The red walled tyre easily went more than half the race distance on Saturday afternoon in Baku.
“The soft was a lot better than it was on Friday and looked a lot better. And you could go much longer on it. The medium and the hard, obviously, were capable of doing very long runs. And you had to, obviously, run two tyres. So the medium and soft was the preferred choice of everybody at the end of the day. But it was quite clear what the strategy was going to be. I don’t think there was many options.”
Straight-line vulnerability leaves Audi exposed
While Audi had pace through much of the lap, the characteristics of the Baku City Circuit created another problem. McNish explained that the cars performed well through the opening and middle sectors but became vulnerable once they reached the long run towards the start-finish straight of the F1 Azerbaijan GP.
That weakness played a role in Nico Hülkenberg’s battle with Carlos Sainz, losing out on the final point.
“If you look at the race, effectively, where we had our speed and where we didn’t have our speed was the most compromising position, because we were quick all the way from one through until onto the straight. And then from there, we struggled a little bit. So unless we were really close by, then they came past us. And Nico [Hülkenberg] did a, both actually did pretty feisty manoeuvres to get back past Carlos [Sainz]. Nico got overtaken by him and then did him round the outside into one, which was one where I’d shut my eyes a little bit, hoping he was going to make the apex.
“But I think they kind of were always in that compromise position where ultimately, if we weren’t perfect coming out onto it, then we were vulnerable, which is what happened at the end. Because when Ocon started backing everybody back, then Sainz came in to attack opportunity. And then we just came past. And so it was, if we were able to keep 1.3, 1.5 [seconds], and that was all the way through that back section, we were able to do that easily. But anything less than that, we were vulnerable down the straight.”
