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2026 Chinese Grand Prix - Saturday
Audi Revolut F1 Team firmly claimed a stake in the midfield battle with a solid performance in Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, with Nico Hulkenberg setting the 11th fastest time of the session. The German driver missed out on a spot in Q3 for the tiniest of margins, 0.002s, but will at least have the consolation of an additional set of tyres for tomorrow’s race. Team-mate, Gabriel Bortoleto, was 16th at the end of Q2 after his final attempt, in which he was improving his time, came to nought with an off-track moment at the final corner.
The team will now gear up for Sunday’s race, aiming to move forward and return to points-paying positions in the main event of the weekend.
Earlier today, Audi could celebrate its first podium in an official Formula One weekend, as Emma Felbermayr moved from sixth on the grid to third at the flag in the reverse-grid F1 Academy race. The young Austrian executed a last-lap move for P3 and looked fast throughout the race – a good indication ahead of tomorrow’s feature, in which she starts on the second row.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “I want to start by thanking the team for their hard work today. There was a big job list in the garage between the sprint and qualifying, not least fixing Nico’s car, and they did a great job of getting both cars ready in time for the session.
“It was also great to see Emma deliver a confident drive in the first F1 Academy race of 2026. Starting the race from P6, she carried out some great overtaking manoeuvres on her way to P3 and her first podium of the year.
“Qualifying was reasonably straightforward, Nico maximised what was available from the car, delivering another solid performance to P11. Gabi was on a good final lap but just pushed a little bit too hard in the final corner, ending up in the gravel. Overall, a clean session for the team and our focus now moves to the race”.
Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27):
Sprint: DNF
Fastest Lap: 1:38.027 (Lap 5)
Strategy: Start (Medium Used)
Q1: 1:34.116 (6 laps)
Q2: 11th / 1:33.354 (6 laps)
“The margins were incredibly tight today – just two thousandths separated us from Q3. Overall though, it was a clean session and we’ll take it from here. The focus will be on keeping things clean, avoiding mistakes and making the most of any opportunities in the race.
These cars are still quite new for us, so there’s a lot of information to take in after every session. We’ll go through everything tonight and fight hard tomorrow.”
Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5):
Sprint: 13th
Fastest Lap: 1:37.800 (Lap 18)
Strategy: Start (Medium Used)
Q1: 1:33.549 (9 laps)
Q2: 16th / 1:33.965 (5 laps)
“Today, the car felt quite decent and I think we made some good steps in the right direction compared to yesterday. The Sprint was pretty uneventful for me: I managed to stay in the mix a bit, but the Safety Car didn't make things easier – in any case, our focus was already set on Qualifying. Towards the end of Q2, I was trying to extract a little bit more lap time and probably pushed a bit too hard on the entry. I lost the rear and when I caught it, it was already too late, so I ended up spinning. It probably would have been tough to reach Q3 anyway: the lap was okay, but not quite what you need to get there. It’s not the position I’d like to start from, but tomorrow is a different story. We’ll start from where we are, focus on our pace, and try to do some overtakes.”
