At a crucial moment in the season, the drivers of the Audi F1 team, Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, have highlighted the difficulties of their engine in extreme weather conditions. As they point out, the high temperatures expected for the Singapore Grand Prix will pose an additional challenge.
With the spectacle of the Marina Bay Street Circuit on the horizon, Hülkenberg has emphasized that the heat conditions weigh on the performance of the Audi engine. “The bad news is that our propulsion system suffers during races in these classic heat conditions,” he stated in a recent press session.
The Singapore Grand Prix is expected to present temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius or higher, according to FIA reports, and Hülkenberg does not anticipate a significant improvement in the performance of his vehicle. “Even though the circuit is less sensitive to power on paper, my expectations for the weekend are not too high,” the German driver added.
Aside from temperature issues, Hülkenberg has pointed out that the limitations of the engine are related to power loss, an aspect shared by Bortoleto’s experience. “In our last season, this is our biggest limitation. We have a good engine, but we need to take additional steps to improve its drivability and adaptability,” Bortoleto explained.
Despite the challenges, Bortoleto shows renewed confidence in Audi’s ability to overcome these obstacles. “Do I trust them? Absolutely. They have built the latest in engines in other competitions and I am convinced they will do the same in Formula 1. We just need time and patience,” he concluded.
Additionally, the team has made significant progress with their recent upgrade package, and according to Bortoleto, the results obtained in recent tests indicate that the updates have worked as expected. “We have been able to verify that the improvements have had a positive impact in all phases of the circuit,” he said.
With their ambitions set high, Audi F1 hopes to overcome this test during the Singapore Grand Prix and demonstrate that, despite current limitations, they are on their way to becoming one of the championship benchmarks.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
