Audi Revolut F1 Team heads to Shanghai for the second round of the FIA Formula One Championship. Just days on from its positive debut at the season-opener in Melbourne, where Gabriel Bortoleto’s ninth-place finish secured the first points of the team’s Formula 1 journey, the team aims to make a further step forward, having analysed the data from the first race weekend of the season. The Chinese Grand Prix will host the first Sprint weekend of the season, offering another important opportunity for the team to continue learning and making progress with its 2026 challenger, the R26.
Audi Driver Development Programme inductee, Emma Felbermayr, kicks off her new campaign, with F1 Academy also running this weekend in Shanghai. Representing Audi Revolut F1 Team on the grid, the young Austrian begins her second year in the all-female series with the clear objective of improving on her debut season’s good results.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal, Audi Revolut F1 Team: “Starting the season with points in Melbourne was a fantastic achievement for everyone involved, and a strong reward for the work carried out across our bases over the winter; the weekend, however, also provided a stark reminder of the work we have ahead of us, after witnessing the disappointing technical issue that prevented Nico from racing. He followed Gabi’s performance from the garage, testament to the commitment to the team he showed since he joined.
“We must not forget we are still at the beginning of our journey, so the focus remains on learning as much as possible and continuing to make progress from race to race: still, we already have some clear indications on the strengths and weaknesses of our package, and on what we need to work on to improve and close the gap to the front of the grid.
“Looking ahead to Shanghai, the Sprint format means we will have very limited practice time, so it will be important to make the most of the time we have on track – especially when there is still so much to learn about this new generation of cars. It is also great to see F1 Academy returning to action, and we are proud to have Emma representing Audi Revolut F1 Team on the grid as she begins her second season in the series.”
Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27): “A new weekend, a new race: the nice thing about the compact F1 calendar is that you don’t have to wait too long for another opportunity to get in the car and drive. I don‘t want to focus on the disappointment of Melbourne, but rather on the positives from that event: we were competitive with both cars in every session, and this is something that gives us confidence going to China. Shanghai is a very different track from Melbourne, and it will be interesting to see how these cars behave on the longs straights we’ll have this weekend. We will only have one practice session before Sprint Qualifying, so we will need to be ready from the first lap to make sure we’re towards the front of the midfield from the get-go.”
Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5): “Melbourne was a really encouraging start to our season: scoring points in our debut race was something very special and a great moment for everyone who worked hard on this project. At the same time, we remain grounded: it was only the first of many races ahead of us, and there is still a lot to learn and understand about our car. Looking at the track layout, Shanghai is a lot closer to some of the challenges we have experienced in Bahrain during pre-season, so we can hope to use some of those lessons to get a headstart for the only practice session we’ll do. We will need to work hard and hit the ground running as we know how competitive the midfield is at this stage.”
