Audi needs to fix their starts, because the Hulk had amazing pace in Japan!

Nico had a nightmare start - lost multiple places before the first corner - and still finished 11th. That part got some attention. What didn't was what the pace data actually shows.

I did a piece on the Gas vs. Verstappen battle, however I had to take a look the Hulks pace too, so made some space for it.

On fuel-adjusted clean air lap times, Hülkenberg was inside the top 9 of all drivers on the grid in Japan. By the final laps he was closing on Ocon fast enough that P10 was realistically only a few laps away.

Strip away the start, strip away the traffic - and the Audi machinery is quietly doing something serious. This wasn't a one-lap qualifying fluke. This was race pace, over distance, against the full field.

We'll have a full three-race pace comparison next week, but the Suzuka data alone is worth a look.

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