2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Friday

Release
27/03/2026
Suzuka, Japan

Audi Revolut F1 Team completed a busy day of practice in Suzuka, with the team competing for places near the front of the midfield again. In the first two on-track sessions for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto worked through the testing programme, working to find the ideal setup to tackle the challenging Suzuka track: despite a technical issue, which forced a precautionary gearbox change and sidelined Gabriel for part of FP2 before the team could get him back on track, the data collected from the two hours of action will inform the engineers; both trackside and back at base, as the team prepares for tomorrow’s Qualifying session.

Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27):

FP1: 12th / 1:32.798 (26 laps)
FP2: 7th / 1:31.441 (27 laps)

“A solid Friday overall. We had two clean sessions, completed the full programme and built a good baseline. The car feels in a decent window, so it’s a positive starting point. The midfield looks very tight - closer than in the first two races - so it should be very competitive out there. We’ll review everything overnight, and the direction is clear with a good base to build on for tomorrow.”


Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5):

FP1: 11th / 1:32.759 (27 laps)
FP2: 16th / 1:31.933 (11 laps)

“It’s been a bit of a mixed Friday. The morning session was pretty straightforward, but we identified an issue early on in FP2 and we made the call to carry out a precautionary gearbox change as the swiftest way to get back out. That meant losing some time in the garage, but the team did an incredible job turning the car around and getting me back out for the end of the session – I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for the effort and hard work.

“We still managed to get some laps in and gather useful insight, so we’ll take that and keep building from here, with one final practice session tomorrow before heading into Qualifying.”