Nico Hulkenberg, starting within the top ten for the first time this season, was well into the fight for a points position when gravel, kicked up by Liam Lawson's car, hit the emergency fire switch on his R26 – triggering an immediate shutdown of the car. It was an unfortunate and unpredictable end to his race, which gave no reward to a strong performance across the weekend.
On the other side of the garage, Gabriel Bortoleto delivered a strong recovery drive after a difficult start: dropping to 17th from his starting position of 12th, he climbed through the pack with an aggressive race, while nursing significant aerodynamic damage sustained from the impact with gravel kicked up by a competitor on lap one – eventually only missing out on the points as he finished 11th.
Audi Development Programme Driver, Freddie Slater, managed to claim a podium on an otherwise challenging weekend of FIA F3 racing. In the sprint race, the Briton finished on the second step of the podium, while in the feature race on Sunday, a good recovery from P10 to P5 was nullified by a penalty for track limits, served at the end of the race, which relegated him to P8.
The team, as well as Freddie, will be back in action in Austria in two weeks' time.
Allan McNish, Racing Director: "It was a very frustrating end to what had been a very good weekend for us as a team. Nico's car shut down after Lawson ran wide and kicked up gravel, which struck the safety fire switch. That triggered an automatic safety function designed to shut the car down in an emergency situation. Nico was able to coast back to the pits, but unfortunately that was the end of his race.
"Gabi had a difficult start and didn't get off the line well. He ended up boxed in a group of cars and was pushed into the gravel where he picked up some damage to his car. From there, he was in recovery mode, fighting his way back through the field and ultimately finishing 11th, just outside the points.
"From the team's perspective, it had been a strong weekend up until the race. It's disappointing that we couldn't convert the pace we showed into points, but the underlying performance was there. We will take the positives, keep working hard and now turn our focus to the next race in Spielberg."
Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27):
Race result: DNF
Fastest lap: 1:23.447 (Lap 2)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Soft) - Lap 13 (New Hard)
"It was a very unusual and unfortunate retirement. Liam ran slightly wide ahead of me and put a wheel into the gravel at Turn 12, which kicked up a lot of stones. Some of them hit our car and appear to have triggered the emergency safety switch, causing a complete shutdown of the system. Everything switched off instantly and that was the end of our race.
"It's obviously very frustrating because we were in a good position to fight for points. The pace we showed throughout the weekend was convincing and, after yesterday's qualifying, there was a genuine opportunity to come away with a strong result.
"Unfortunately, we leave with nothing to show for it, but this was simply a case of bad luck rather than a performance or reliability issue."
Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5)
Race result: 11th
Fastest lap: 1:21.446 (Lap 55)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) - Lap 15 (New Hard) - Lap 33 (New Hard) – Lap 53 (New Soft)
"It hasn't been the easiest race for us. We had a challenging start which ended up costing us a few positions on the first lap already. Then, unfortunately, I had a racing incident with [Esteban] Ocon: we touched when side by side, I got squeezed into the gravel and picked up quite a bit of damage, which I then had to manage for the rest of the race.
"Despite all of this, there are still some positives to take home from this first European double header: once again, we showed strong pace across all sessions. It's encouraging to see it on two very different circuits. Hopefully we can keep building on that in Spielberg in two weeks' time."
