'We can be ahead of them' – Bortoleto confident Audi can challenge Racing Bulls in Hungary

Gabriel Bortoleto believes that Audi can be best of the rest behind the leading teams in the Hungarian Grand Prix after a promising Friday in Budapest.

The Brazilian finished P6 in the opening session at the Hungaroring before dropping to P11 in FP2, having not put in a representative lap time as drivers battled low grip and overheating tyres.

Bortoleto has finished in the points in the previous two Grands Prix and feels that Audi are moving in the right direction ahead of the summer break, and in a position to challenge midfield leaders, Racing Bulls.

"Positive day, a bit more tricky in FP2 with the soft [tyre], just a bit all over the place, not really happy with the balance," he said when asked to assess his Friday.

"But you know, things to test, things to be done and I think it was a successful day overall. I think we collected a lot of information and tomorrow we try to put things together and have a good day."

The Brazilian added: "It is going to be close like it is always, I think [if] we put things together, everything aligned and we can be ahead of them [Racing Bulls]."

Team mate Nico Hulkenberg finished P8 and P9 to complete a promising day for Audi, with the team also testing new upgrades during the day.

Technical Director James Key believes the track, with its tight and twisty layout, "is reasonable for our car", and that the chance to score more points would be determined by perfecting the minor details.

"Really it's just looking at fine details. Already it's getting to be very small margins, just a few races into these new regs but we'll look at that," he said.

"Long run pace looked okay. I think if we qualify well we can probably hold station I would say."