'Cool and clean' Bortoleto's P8 in Spa proved Audi can challenge the midfield

That eighth place finish saw Gabriel Bortoleto match the result he achieved at Silverstone two weeks earlier, but with one major difference – all the drivers ahead of him were from the four frontrunning teams, and thus Audi won the unofficial midfield battle for the first time.

Bortoleto was helped by a little bit of fortunate timing and a good strategy call, but nevertheless it was a strong performance from both the Brazilian and his team. And what’s more it came at a power track, one where Audi’s acknowledged power unit deficiency was expected to be costly - however, the strength of the chassis and aerodynamic package pushed Bortoleto into Q3 and the top ten on the grid.

Audi’s starts have been a weakness this year, and Bortoleto lost spots to Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto on the first lap, while gaining one from George Russell’s early demise. Recovering from their penalties that sent them to the back of the grid, Lando Norris and then Isack Hadjar subsequently pushed him down to P11. At that stage it looked like making the points might be difficult.

Covering off each other, Arvid Lindblad, Lawson and Colapinto all made early stops, while Audi kept Bortoleto out. And that paid off when the same Virtual Safety Car that gave Charles Leclerc a hand at the front, also allowed the German squad to pit both their cars.

Bortoleto jumped all of his midfield rivals to put himself in P8, and he spent the rest of the race successfully staying ahead of Lindblad to secure more points in Audi's debut season in F1.

Audi Racing Director Allan McNish conceded that the strategy call had made the difference: “For us it was quite clear we could go long, and we were good on the tyre,” he said.

“So we were in a position to be able to take advantage of that. Obviously, the VSC allowed us to save a bit of time, but I think even then we'd have been able to attack towards the end of the race. Maybe not necessarily with Arvid, but definitely in the points.

“I was pleased to see that ultimately he could hold the gap relatively easily, because obviously we've been fighting with them toe-to-toe in the last couple of races. But we proved if we can be ahead of them, then we can actually finish ahead of them.”

McNish acknowledged that he was impressed by Bortoleto’s defence: “I think Gabi, without doubt, took the pressure of that very, very well. I wouldn't say he was under extreme pressure, because it was a two and a half, three second gap all the time, but he delivered a really cool and clean performance to the end of the race.”

At Silverstone, Bortoleto finished behind the two Racing Bulls cars, so beating them this time around was a sign of progress.

“If you look at the last couple of races, we've been fighting with the Racing Bulls,” McNish said. “And we've been behind them from a qualifying point of view, and we just sat there and we were keeping them honest.

“And I put it reverse at the moment; we got ahead of them. Not from the qualifying side of it – well, one of them from qualifying, but the other one from the pit stop at the VSC – and then they kept us honest.”

Attention now turns to the Hungaroring, a track where power unit performance is less important, and which could play to the strength of the Audi chassis. However, McNish remained cautious.

“We had an upgrade in Austria, and it did everything that we wanted it to do,” McNish started. “It definitely helped in the areas that we were not quite so strong, and we've been working on making sure we execute what we have as a potential as much as possible.

“Budapest is a different style of circuit, a very different situation. Obviously, it's significantly shorter, hotter, everything else, and I think there it'll be a bit of a reset. Yes, we want to take the positive momentum into it, but I wouldn't say that it's necessarily going to reshape the order massively in that respect.”

However, McNish stressed that the team have to get everything right: “We'll be roughly fighting in and around that Racing Bulls/Alpine area at the top of the midfield, would be my expectation at the moment. But to be in the position to do it, we've got to really deliver. Every team has to.

“We've got to really deliver through qualifying and into the race. You can't drop the ball in any way whatsoever. So we'll have to really be on our toes in Budapest as well.”