{"id":404455,"date":"2026-01-10T16:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/404455\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T16:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:08:17","slug":"audi-drivers-react-to-fantastic-first-f1-car-shakedown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/404455\/","title":{"rendered":"Audi drivers react to &#8216;fantastic&#8217; first F1 car shakedown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Audi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/series\/single-seater\/formula-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have reacted to the team\u2019s first on-track appearance in a shakedown on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.audi.co.uk\/en\/F1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The German marque<\/a>, taking over the Sauber entry, made the radical decision to become the first of the 11 teams on the grid to put an early iteration of its R26 through its paces.<\/p>\n<p>And via its allocated 200km track allowance, the car was given an early run at the Circuit de-Barcelona Catalunya, having fired up its engine on December 19.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/01\/09\/audi-f1-car-sighted-completing-first-run-in-barcelona-shakedown\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Motorsport Week<\/a>, the car was spotted tackling the Spanish circuit, with both Hulkenberg and Bortoleto each afforded half of the track time.<\/p>\n<p>And both men took to social media to convey their excitement at getting behind the wheel of the R26 for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c9th of January 2026 &amp; the rings are rolling,\u201d wrote Hulkenberg.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFantastic effort Audi F1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bortoleto added: \u201cSo happy to finally start this journey! First day at the track with Audi F1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nico-Hulkenberg-Audi--1024x576.webp.webp\" alt=\"Nico Hulkenberg was all smiles after Audi put its R26 through its paces at Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-234933\"  \/>Nico Hulkenberg was all smiles after Audi put its R26 through its paces at Barcelona<\/p>\n<p>The team itself also acknowledged the special occasion, saying the signified the start of the \u201croad ahead\u201d for the Jonathan Wheatley-led team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re officially rolling. A milestone moment in Barcelona as the R26 hit a racetrack for the very first time,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst day. First laps. First chance for our drivers to experience the car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe road ahead starts right here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>January will be a busy month for Audi, with the first pre-season testing scheduled pencilled in for January 26 at the same circuit, six days after its official launch in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p>And two days after that, it will be represented in a meeting between the F1 manufacturers and the FIA to determine a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/01\/09\/f1-manufacturers-to-hold-crucial-meeting-with-fia-over-engine-dispute\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">supposed anomaly in the new rulebook<\/a>, allegedly exploited by Mercedes and Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/01\/09\/f1-ceo-keeping-door-open-for-german-gp-return-to-calendar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 CEO keeping door open for German GP return to calendar<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audi Formula 1 drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have reacted to the team\u2019s first on-track appearance in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,40856,63,817,813,816,7695,852,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-404455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-audi","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-gabriel-bortoleto","15":"tag-nico-hulkenberg","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}