Audi racing director Allan McNish is pleased with the recent results, but also makes it clear that a top-10 finish won’t be possible every weekend
Audi continues to gain ground. At this weekend’s Formula 1 race in Zandvoort, the new factory team scored points for the fourth consecutive time and is slowly putting pressure on Haas in the Constructors’ Championship. Only five points separate Audi from the U.S. team in seventh place.
While Haas missed the top 10 for the sixth consecutive time on Sunday, Nico Hülkenberg finished eighth as the “best of the rest” in the midfield behind the top four teams. Race director Allan McNish, however, warns against taking such results for granted at this stage.
“I think there’s no question that this is going to be a very tough battle [in the midfield],” he emphasizes, adding: “In the end, it comes down to one or two places. Because the group of four [top] teams has an advantage. And that advantage is too big to make up.”
In other words: If all eight drivers from Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull finish the race, all the remaining teams behind them will normally be fighting only for the last two spots in the top 10. And according to McNish, this battle has become even tighter.
Aston Martin is also in the mix from now on
Because with Aston Martin, there is now another team that has caught up. Fernando Alonso finished ninth on Sunday, just one position behind Hülkenberg. “Alonso’s pace on the one-stop strategy was actually quite surprising in the end,” admits McNish.
Added to that are the usual suspects—Racing Bull and Alpine—with whom Audi has been battling for the top spots in the midfield for months. According to McNish, the main priority is therefore to deliver error-free races, “because then we can capitalize on the opportunities.”
“We need to keep making progress with the car,” he acknowledges. But: “In practice, however, the reality is that, in my opinion, most of everyone’s attention is now focused more on the coming years than necessarily on the end of this specific battle.”
In other words: While the Audi R26 is still being developed, behind the scenes the focus is already on the upcoming 2027 season. According to McNish, however, this is also the case with the other teams, and he emphasizes that their own car is “pretty fast anyway.”
The race director explains that there haven’t been any major updates since the race in Spielberg in June. “In that regard, there have been a few minor tweaks, but nothing substantial,” he explains, adding: “So I think the base car is pretty fast right now.”
Will Audi’s winning streak end at Monza?
“And that’s a good foundation for us to build on,” says McNish, who is also aware, however, that further top-10 finishes this year won’t come easily. “There will be races where we don’t score any points,” he says bluntly.
“We’ve had a very good run, and we’ve been able to score points whenever possible,” said McNish, referring to the fact that Audi has scored points every weekend since the Silverstone Grand Prix.
It’s already been two months since the last race without points at Spielberg. However, McNish fears that the Italian Grand Prix in just over a week will be one of the more difficult races for Audi. That’s because engine power is what matters most at Monza.
And Audi has never made a secret of the fact that this area is currently still the biggest weak point in its package. Nevertheless, according to McNish, the team will once again try to get the most out of the car in Italy and hope that this will create opportunities.
