Renault impresses as Nico Hulkenberg starts seventh in China
Nico Hulkenberg admitted he was surprised to have qualified his Renault seventh in China, after a solid performance by the German and his team.
Although he gained a place due to the engine issues suffered by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, it was nevertheless a major breakthrough for the Enstone team. Hulkenberg finished out of the points in Australia.
“Melbourne was for us an extended winter testing in a way, because we’d never really done a long run,” he said. “We learned quite a bit afterwards, and we found a couple of things on the car that weren’t ideal for Melbourne, so we were really looking forward to the Friday normal running to work on the car and see what we’ve changed, if it did what we thought it would do. But obviously Friday was taken away. It was a pity, and it was difficult to know where the car is.
“But this morning from the first lap I got in a felt pretty comfortable, a good balance, a good harmony in the car, grip was alright, obviously relative to the competition. So I’m quite happy and well surprised today.”
Hulkenberg downplayed the suggestion that the limited running had perhaps favored Renault and hurt others: “I don’t think it helped us, otherwise we could have found that yesterday, and we could have even worked more. We still played catch-up, because winter testing we missed a lot of time, so potentially we would have found even more.
“It’s early doors. Of course today is very positive, and I’m very happy as well about how it went and where we stand and how the car feels. I’m happy where I am. It’s a good start, and tomorrow is the big job.”
Sunday is expected to be wet, conditions that usually favor Hulkenberg, although he did little running on Friday.
“I did one lap on intermediates, so it’s going to be a bit of a light bulb. Same for everyone, really. I don’t mind the wet as you know. It could offer more, it’s more risky at the same time also. There’s no guarantees. If you start at the front you feel more protected, because you know what you get and you have track position already. I’m open-minded to whatever it is.”
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