Sahara Force India had a positive start to the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship after Nico Hulkenberg finished the Australian Grand Prix in seventh position.
After a crash between Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez on the eighteenth lap, Hulkenberg got stuck behind the Haas F1 Team car of Romain Grosjean for the rest of the race. With a lot of cars behind the German, he was always under pressure to keep his position, and while he was defending he was also chasing Grosjean.
Hulkenberg believes his seventh position at the season-opener was satisfying.
“To get some points in the bag at the first race is a positive way to start the year,” said Hulkenberg. “It was not an easy day and it’s difficult to know what would have happened without the race being stopped and restarted.
“I think the red flag made things a lot more difficult for our planned one-stop strategy because it gave everybody around us the chance to reset and change their tyres. So that was a shame and it meant I was out of position and got stuck behind the Haas for most of the race.
“It was not easy to get close to Romain [Grosjean] and I had a lot of cars behind me, which meant I was always under pressure and having to defend as well as chase. So, given all the circumstances, seventh place feels quite satisfying.”
