Audi – perpetually eleventh? What went wrong for Nico Hülkenberg at the F1 Grand Prix in Austin

11th place yet again, narrowly missing out on the points once more. Nico Hülkenberg was beaten by Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls, 9th) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine, 10th) at the Formula 1 US Grand Prix in Austin, finishing only 11th and thus failing to score any points.

Hülkenberg faced problems after the start in Austin

Hülkenberg had fallen well behind after the first lap, slipping from 11th on the grid (!) down to 16th place. The German explained after the race what had happened: “After what was actually a good start, my car went into anti-stall mode. Not straight away, but quite late. I drove a few metres, so I’d completed the first part of the start, and then the anti-stall mode kicked in. After that, it felt a bit strange, so I’ll need to speak to the team again and check exactly what happened.”

The German explained: “That set us back a bit, of course, but then we mastered the easier sections and got back to where we’d started. But naturally, by then we were already quite a long way behind Pierre and Liam, and as we’re driving at the same pace, it’s hard to make that up. We’re running at a very similar pace, but if you’re 8 or 10 seconds behind and doing the same thing, the gap stays the same – though that gap is, of course, the result of that first lap.”

Audi sets a record in 11th place

It all seems suspiciously familiar – Audi in eleventh, so narrowly missing out on points. And it’s actually something that has happened with astonishing frequency this season. In more than half of the 18 races so far – namely in ten GPs – Audi has finished eleventh, meaning it ended up in the first non-points position. That’s more often than any other team. Is Audi the eternal eleventh?

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