Audi was once again robbed of potential points by a poor start: the manufacturer wants to tackle the problem as a priority
“I think we could have scored points with a normal, regular start,” says Nico Hülkenberg after his eleventh place in Japan, which meant he once again came away empty-handed and is still waiting for his first point for Audi.
But the start once again thwarted Audi’s efforts: Gabriel Bortoleto lost four positions and dropped back from ninth on the grid to 13th, while Hülkenberg himself had started 13th but found himself behind a Cadillac in 19th position after the first few corners.
“We know that this is something we need to work on as a team,” said Bortoleto, who was also unable to score any points in Suzuka despite starting from the top 10. Hülkenberg also finds the situation “obviously disappointing and frustrating” and says that Audi must “get on top of the situation”. “There is definitely still a lot to do on this side.”
Binotto: No obvious thing to fix
What exactly is the problem, that is the question. In contrast to Mercedes, where the poor starts in Suzuka were also down to the drivers, the problem at Audi seems to be the car. “Of course I know that I had a bad start, but I don’t know the exact details at the moment,” says Hülkenberg. “I first have to look at it and talk to the engineers.”
Bortoleto’s statements also suggest that it is more the team that needs to find something: “There are teams that have developed the car in a slightly different direction and have worked on it to enable better starts,” says the Brazilian.
“I also don’t think that all the teams thought that starting would be so difficult. For us, it’s been terrible so far. We know that it is very difficult for us and that we have to improve.”
Mattia Binotto, who has taken over the role of Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley following his departure, wants to rectify this situation as quickly as possible, as it was not the first bad start for Audi this year. “So it’s definitely not one of our strengths,” he admits.
The only thing is: “The reason why it hasn’t been fixed yet is that it’s not an obvious thing that you can just fix.”
Starts have “top priority”
Despite this, the Italian says that solving the starting problem is the “top priority” for the team, “because we had another good qualifying session, and it’s no good starting in good positions if we lose all the places again when we set off.”
“In a way, it’s good for us now that two races have been canceled,” Binotto continues. During the break until the next race in Miami at the beginning of May, Audi now has time to reflect on the start to the season so far and tackle any problems.
“So far, the start of the season has been characterized by very reactive measures. Since the winter tests, we simply had so much to learn as a brand new team. We had to solve reliability problems and didn’t really have time to even think about further developments. Optimizing the start will therefore be one of the focal points in the coming weeks.”
But how quickly can improvements be made? “I think we can improve a little, but not to the level of the Ferraris in the short term,” says Bortoleto. “I think that’s very difficult. Even compared to Mercedes, we will probably still have to struggle a bit.”