Bahrain GP: Nico Hülkenberg narrowly misses out on points, Audi consistently in 11th place

Audi came away empty-handed from the turbulent Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia: a penalty for Gabriel Bortoleto following a collision with Williams driver Carlos Sainz; Nico Hülkenberg was eighth at one stage, but ended up back in 11th place once again.

It wasn’t down to the tenacious driver from Emmerich. Starting from 15th on the grid, Nico produced numerous brilliant overtaking manoeuvres; on one occasion, he overtook both Stroll and Ocon in the same corner, gaining two places in one go. A manoeuvre you don’t see every day.

But still: once again, just 11th place – a position Hülki had already finished in this year in Azerbaijan, Japan and China, whilst Bortoleto finished in that position in the races in Monaco, Barcelona, Austria, Hungary and Italy. So Audi has finished eleventh nine times in 16 Grands Prix!

Hülkenberg on his Bahrain GP in Malaysia: “That was an intense race; a lot happened. There were a few good things, but unfortunately also some not-so-good ones. In the end, our overall package simply wasn’t strong enough to make it into the top ten. The final corner, in particular, caused us a great deal of trouble, and we struggled on the straights as well. That’s why we narrowly missed out on the points in the end. Fortunately, we’re back in action straight away next week.”

Six-time Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher, commentating as a Formula 1 expert for our colleagues at Sky Germany in Sepang, praised: “Nico had a good weekend. Sure, there was that small mistake in qualifying, but Hülkenberg was really strong in the race.”

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“He also had that engine problem, which took many drivers by surprise at the start of the Grand Prix. And Audi simply aren’t where they’d like to be with the engine yet. In that respect, Nico was fighting with blunt weapons towards the end of the race. I don’t know what he could have done better today.”