Audi heads to Monza on a four-race points run, and admits the track may end it

Audi arrives at Monza having scored points in four consecutive races, and with a racing director who is not pretending the fifth will be straightforward.

That candour is the most interesting thing in the team’s Italian Grand Prix preview. Preview releases usually promise momentum. This one says the circuit may not suit them.

Four in a row, and a track that might end it

The run began before the summer break and continued at Zandvoort, where the Audi Revolut F1 Team took another points finish. Four races in a row is not a fluke for a team in its first season under the Audi name, and it suggests the car is now consistently inside the window where points are available.

Monza is a different proposition. The lowest-downforce circuit of the year rewards a very specific set of characteristics (straight-line efficiency, stability under heavy braking, a rear end that survives the kerbs at the chicanes) and a car that works everywhere else can be exposed here.

Racing director Allan McNish said as much.

“We showed good pace in Zandvoort and came away with points for the fourth race in a row, which is always encouraging, although there is always room for improvement,” McNish said. “Monza is always a special place to go racing, with so much history in and around the circuit. This weekend will be a different challenge, on a track layout that could make it difficult to maintain the run of points we had in the last races.”

“Our focus, however, will remain on execution and on making the most of what we have to start this final European back-to-back on a positive note.”

Setting expectations before a weekend is not the same as lowering them. It is a team that knows which circuits its car likes.

Hülkenberg and a midfield that refuses to separate

Nico Hülkenberg’s read on the situation is the one that matters most for what Sunday will look like. The car is in the fight, but so is everyone else’s.

“The Sunday in Zandvoort ended up again in a satisfying way for us. We came away with another points finish and, just as importantly, confirmed that we’re moving in the right direction as a team,” Hülkenberg said. “The goal now is to continue that level of execution over the next races.”

“It’s always good to be back at Monza. One of the real classics with so many passionate Tifosi around and a place where you really enjoy driving a Formula One car. The midfield is still incredibly close, so the focus is on putting together another tidy weekend and seeing where that leaves us.”

At a circuit where slipstreaming compresses the field further, “incredibly close” is not a figure of speech. Qualifying at Monza has a habit of separating cars by hundredths, and the difference between the second row of the midfield and the back of it can be a single tow on the run to Curva Grande.

Bortoleto returns to the country he grew up racing in

For Gabriel Bortoleto the weekend carries something extra. He spent his junior career living in Italy, and Monza is where a good deal of that career happened.

“Even if the result on Sunday in Zandvoort wasn’t what I wanted, I felt good with the car and we had good pace, which were definitely positives coming back from the break,” Bortoleto said. “Monza is always a weekend with special meaning for me: I lived in Italy throughout my junior career and also enjoyed good results here in recent years.”

“Overall, racing at the Temple of Speed is always something you cannot help but look forward to. We’ve been competitive over the last few races, so hopefully we can carry that into this weekend and put together a strong result.”

Slater arrives leading Formula 3

There is a second Audi story on the same bill. Freddie Slater, part of the Audi Driver Development Programme, is back on track with Formula 3 at Monza, and he arrives leading the championship with two rounds remaining.

Junior programmes are judged on whether they produce drivers who actually win things. A title fight going into the closing rounds is exactly the kind of result that justifies the investment, and Monza is a decent place to strengthen a lead or lose one.

What to watch

Whether the points run reaches five. Whether the low-downforce package is a genuine weakness or simply a harder weekend. And how close the midfield really is once everyone runs their thinnest wings of the season.

Monza tends to answer those questions quickly.

Quotes from the Audi Revolut F1 Team’s Italian Grand Prix preview release, issued from Hinwil on 1 September 2026.

Photos: Audi Media Centre

How qualifying works: six drivers are eliminated in each of Q1 and Q2 in 2026, and Q3 now runs to thirteen minutes. Our guide to F1 qualifying explained covers the full format, the 107 percent rule and sprint qualifying.