‘A bit frustrating’ – Audi unpick eventful weekend in Malaysia after penalty and last-lap drama

The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia proved to be a particularly eventful weekend for Audi, with the squad left to reflect on a “frustrating” end to Sunday’s race that saw them lose out on points during the last lap.

After progressing to Q3 in Saturday’s Qualifying, Gabriel Bortoleto lined up in P10 on the grid while team mate Nico Hulkenberg started from P15 – but both looked set for a tough start to the race when they bolted on soft tyres, a decision that quickly went against them given the still damp conditions from the heavy rainfall that had delayed the event getting underway.

Following an early stop for the intermediates, the Audis were each able to make gains. However, Bortoleto’s progress faltered when he made contact with the Williams of Carlos Sainz, an incident that the Brazilian subsequently received a 10-second time penalty for.

Hulkenberg, meanwhile, remained in the fight for points until the very end of the race and only just missed out after being overtaken by Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad on the final lap of the Grand Prix.

Furthermore, the team were handed a fine (part of which was suspended for 12 months on the condition that there is not a similar incident in that time) for an unsafe release of Hulkenberg during a pit stop.

While he had also seen a point slip away during the final stages of the race one week earlier in Azerbaijan, Hulkenberg was pragmatic about experiencing a similar fate at Sepang.

“Obviously a few times now I just missed out, but ultimately [it was] not quite good enough, our package here,” the German explained. “That's why we couldn't hang on to that point in the end, but obviously if we're honest we only got there because of some retirements and some trouble at the front.

“I feel like it was always a long shot, but I’m much happier with my performance compared to yesterday, which wasn't so difficult, but a clean race from my side. Yeah, good racing and a good afternoon.”

On the other side of the garage, Bortoleto took the blame for his collision with Sainz after what proved to be a tough afternoon in Malaysia.

“First I want to apologise to Carlos,” said Bortoleto. “I ended up touching him there and maybe destroyed his race, a bit of mine as well, created damage in my car, and after that we were just too far behind to fight for anything.

“I was racing on my own and unfortunately had another few issues through the race as well that was very difficult to manage, but anyway, I was already gone after my contact. So I apologise to him, to my team, to his team, and we move to Singapore.“

The 21-year-old still felt that there were “a lot of positives” to take forward, adding: “I think we delivered a good upgrade in Baku and it showed to be strong here. And yeah, heads up to Singapore. I'm excited for the weekend, and hopefully we can have a good one there.”

Audi’s Racing Director Allan McNish echoed that positivity, having praised the performance of the car in Malaysia whilst acknowledging that missing out on points was a frustrating end to the event.

“We got the pace of the car. That was quite clear when we got to Qualifying,” McNish reflected after the race. “I think we had got it into the right window, and Gabi delivered a really good Qualifying.

“Nico was on a similar pace till Turn 14. These things happen. And I think, we sort of got back through to roughly that point by the end of the race. Not quite that same point, but very close to it.

“So in terms of that, yeah, it was a bit frustrating to be overtaken in the last lap again, because that's two races consecutively where we've been done in the last lap and that's a little bit frustrating. But I think we know where our strengths and weaknesses are and we know we're a bit exposed, and when the Safety Car came out we become a bit more exposed.”