Nico Hulkenberg was at the heart of a thrilling United States Grand Prix in Austin and was rewarded with four points for eighth place. The German was involved in many wheel-to-wheel scraps and resisted a late challenge from the Williams drivers, despite the potency of DRS in the race.
“Another tough race but very satisfying to have so many good battles and score another four points. I think we squeezed the maximum from the car and should be pleased with what we achieved. For the first few laps we looked very strong, but after lap ten the tyres started to fade away. When we switched to the hard tyres we were not so competitive so it was just a case of pushing hard to stay in the points. The last few laps were not easy because I was getting massive pressure from the Williams pair, who were very quick through sector one. They had the advantage of DRS and it was not easy to keep them behind me. There was quite a bit of fighting but I managed to stay ahead.”
Force India teammate Paul Di Resta suffered with a lack of tyre temperature which caused a spin, leaving him in a disappointing fifteenth.
“I made a good start and for the first few laps we were in quite a strong position and moving forward with good lap times. Maybe we waited too long before pitting because I became vulnerable to Senna after my stop and was struggling on cold tyres with tyre warm-up. I couldn’t keep Senna behind me and then I had the same situation with Maldonado. I was fighting a lot of oversteer in the car and made an error in turn 19, lost the rear, and spun. I was just trying a bit too hard to keep the cars behind me. That gave me some flat spots on my tyres so I had to pit for a second time. From there it was difficult to fight back because it was a clear one-stop race.”