Formula 1 Chinese GP
How China F1 weekend "exposed Audi's weaknesses"
Audi team boss recaps an up-and-down start to the season with a points finish and two missed starts, as Formula 1's latest power unit manufacturer struggles for reliability
Filip Cleeren Oleg Karpov
Edited: Mar 19, 2026, 10:36 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Audi F1 team boss Jonathan Wheatley says the Chinese Grand Prix "exposed our weaknesses" as the team tries to get a grip on power unit driveability and reliability.
Audi's long-awaited debut as an F1 works outfit has been a tale of two halves. The German manufacturer surprised friend and foe with the performance of its first-ever F1 power unit, which has allowed it to slot into F1's midfield from the start in Melbourne.
But it has also suffered from serious reliability issues which left Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto unable to make the start in Australia and China respectively, and the Shanghai International Circuit further exposed driveability issues which saw Audi lose out in the midfield battle.
Bortoleto had to be pushed back to the garage from the grid with an issue that is believed to be similar to the one that struck Hulkenberg in Australia, leaving the German as Audi's only representative in the race.
It was effectively Hulkenberg's first full-distance race of the season given his Melbourne DNS, and it uncovered several issues Audi needs to get on top of, including a slow start off the line and a general lack of driveability. The absence of McLaren cars and other attrition could still have yielded points for Audi, but a slow pitstop put paid to those chances as Hulkenberg finished 11th.
Debriefing the race, team principal Wheatley said Shanghai further uncovered pain points Audi must address as its focus remains on making its power unit more reliable and easier to drive.
"Look, it's hugely disappointing. First of all, it's the second race in a row where we've only got one car to start the race," Wheatley said. "As a team, we apologise to Gabriel for that. It's something we need to really focus on in terms of our reliability at the moment.
Jonathan Wheatley, Audi F1 Team Principal
Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
"I think it's a track that exposed our weaknesses in many areas. It remains a challenge for us to get on top of these driveability issues. Basically, Nico had a couple of situations in Turn 6 that were hard to recover from because you've got to get the engine back in its operating window.
"We're at race two. What I'm seeing at the moment is that Mercedes and Ferrari obviously have a very usable package. But I don't see anyone else having an easy time with it. I think they're a challenge to drive, these cars, at the moment."
One way to catch up is by qualifying for the brand-new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system that gives manufacturers that are behind the chance to develop their otherwise frozen combustion engines after every six races. The cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would theoretically mean teams in that situation would have to wait longer, although there are ideas on the table to restore the original time frame.
When asked about the strength of Audi's power unit, Wheatley said: "What I can tell you is that I had a long conversation with Mattia [Binotto, head of Audi F1] about this. The analysis that we've done, and we're careful about what we say in public about it, one of the areas of focus for us in the next development cycle is the PU. We think there's some work that we can do in that area."
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Lintao Zhang / LAT Images via Getty Images
Audi a "long way away" from customer teams
Audi was always going to have the deck stacked against it by virtue of not having any customer teams that can help gather data, a situation that is biting Honda much more dramatically.
But speaking earlier over the Shanghai weekend, Wheatley said it wouldn't be realistic for Audi to support customer teams any time soon.
"I think we’re a long way away from being able to support a customer at the moment," he said on Friday. "But look, we have to be realistic. If you look at the mileage that Mercedes engine teams accrued over the winter testing, it’s something like four times the amount that we were able to, and we had a reliable programme, we still did a lot of mileage.
Read Also:
"But it’s early days in the project. Our ambition at the moment is to be a challenger and to move from challenger to competitive at the right time.
"In terms of the power unit, it’s incredibly complicated. It’s a bold ambition on behalf of Audi to show what they’re capable of in Formula 1.
"We're learning at an incredible rate and it’s going to be interesting to see how the power units develop over the next few years and over the next few months."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why Ferrari believes F1 engine rules tweak won't stop Mercedes
Next article Nico Rosberg sends emotional message to Kimi Antonelli after first F1 win in China
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
The impressive stats underpinning Liam Lawson's career-saving F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
The impressive stats underpinning Liam Lawson's career-saving F1 season
More from
Audi
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
FIA reveals latest ADUO results in final review of 2026 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 3 d
FIA reveals latest ADUO results in final review of 2026 F1 season
Latest news
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 h
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
4 h
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe