Bortoleto believes Silverstone points underlined Audi’s F1 potential

Gabriel Bortoleto converted his P11 grid slot into eighth place at Silverstone on Sunday, and in doing so scored Audi’s first points since Australia – reiterating that “the team deserve it” after a run of near misses.

Although the P11 slot has often been associated with his team mate Nico Hulkenberg this season, it is actually Bortoleto who has finished 11th more times this year, including in the last three Grands Prix. As such, Audi have been knocking on the door of points – but just unable to break through.

That run changed in Great Britain, with the Brazilian staying out of trouble to finish between the Racing Bulls and the Alpine machines for his best result of the season.

"The team deserve it, we have been going through a few races with no points," Bortoleto said after the race. "[It] has been tough for all of the team to see that the pace is there, the potential is there but because of one or other reason, we cannot capitalise on that.

"But today we truly showed why we are here and our true pace, we are currently on tracks like this a bit behind Racing Bulls with lots of straights. But realistically it was a good position to finish P8."

With every car starting on the medium tyre and initial variance on strategy therefore limited, Bortoleto had to get off the line well and keep out of trouble in the opening laps. He swapped to the hard tyre and then again to the softs under the late Safety Car, covering off Franco Colapinto behind.

Audi are five points behind Williams and 15 behind Haas in the Team's standings, but seem to have a pace advantage on both. What they have not had on their side is reliability, with Hulkenberg pulling over again to retire the car at Silverstone.

With those gremlins not yet fully ironed out, it makes Bortoleto’s points haul even more important – especially considering reliability issues affected his Qualifying, with the Brazilian only making it out on track right at the end of Q1.

"It’s big and the team is very happy, I just want to give them a hug you know." said the 21-year-old. "I don’t have time, we have to come here [to the media pen] straight away after but I really want to see them, say thank you after a long weekend.

"We almost stayed out after Q1, what could have been if we didn’t do Qualifying. They managed to put the car out there and put a good Qualifying and a good performance."

As for Hulkenberg, he called his Silverstone experience “a character-building weekend." The German failed to see the chequered flag for the fourth time in nine races.

"It ended in a frustrating way for us today," he explained. "From the start, things didn’t quite come together – something already felt off on the laps to the grid – and the launch itself wasn’t where it needed to be. Clearly an area that needs attention on our side.

"In the race, I had to push early on in dirty air and had a small spin, which made tyre management difficult, and we then had a gearbox issue that ultimately forced us to retire."