Hulkenberg warns true pace will only show in Melbourne qualifying

Nico Hulkenberg concedes Audi won’t know where it is in F1’s pecking order until the teams “pull their pants down” in qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix.

But even then, he reckons it will still take a few races to get the full picture.

Audi won’t know its F1 2026 ranking until qualifying and first races

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As one of two new power unit manufacturers on the F1 2026 grid along with Red Bull Powertrains, Audi had a solid pre-season, finishing testing in Bahrain near the front of the midfield.

Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull dominated the top positions on the timesheet with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in eighth place ahead of Oliver Bearman in the Haas and Hulkenberg’s teammate, Gabriel Bortoleto. The trio was separated by three-tenths.

It was an impressive performance from Audi given that this is the German company’s first season as a works team, having taken over the team formerly known as Sauber.

Between Hulkenberg and Bortoleto, they covered 357 laps – more than Red Bull and Ferrari managed at the last outing. The team gathered valuable data in the process.

Hulkenberg is refusing to get carried away as he concedes that testing does not reveal the genuine pecking order.

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“Hypothetical, it’s just speculation right now still,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media in Bahrain.

“I think we really don’t know until Melbourne and even a few races in, because I feel at the moment it also can be quite track dependent, how your package feels on different circuits.

“So we’ll have to wait and see until everybody really pulls their pants down in quali and we’ll find out.

“The team’s been working hard over the winter, obviously pushing all the areas, being new into the power unit side, doing that for the first time.

“It’s been busy, and a challenge. I think we’re okay, but there’s still a lot of work and a lot of room for improvement on that side and a lot to come.

“So early days, I hope we’re competitive somewhere in the midfield right now. But then again, let’s see in a few weeks.”

The 38-year-old revealed Audi has been happy with its progress over the course of testing, which began back in January at the Barcelona circuit before moving to Bahrain for two three-day outings.

But, he added, there’s still work to do before Formula 1 heads to Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March.

“Certainly feel we made some very good progress from Barcelona to where we are today,” he said. “Definitely some positives there. But it’s still early days.

“There’s always more to do, more to work on, more to optimise. So, yeah, it’s very much work in progress. Learn as we go.

“And just obviously testing is finished now, do our homework as well as we can and go racing.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Mat Coch

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