Nico Hulkenberg crossed the line P11 in Austin — his third outside-the-points finish in that exact slot over the last four races. Anti-stall kicked in at the start, robbing him of any shot at the top ten from his already-compromised P11 grid slot. "That's more than a bad start," Hulkenberg said, noting the system behaved strangely, firing after he'd already moved a few meters. Gabriel Bortoleto started from the back after taking power unit penalties and climbed to P13, making it a double dose of close-but-no-cigar for Audi.
The German squad sits eighth in the championship, seven points behind Haas in the scrap for seventh. Pace-wise they're in the mix — Hulkenberg ran with Gasly and Lawson all afternoon — but starts remain a persistent problem and the points keep slipping away. Audi's upgrades have worked, the driver pairing clicks, and the PU reliability has improved since the early-season chaos. The pieces are there. Now they need to turn P11s into P10s before Mexico, where Haas will be hunting the same real estate.
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