Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg was not particularly pleased with the way the Hungarian Grand Prix unfolded for him on Sunday, as the German just managed to scrape home in the points, down in tenth place.
As with many drivers this weekend, Hulkenberg found himself stuck behind slower cars during the race, and due to the lack of overtaking opportunities at the Hungaroring circuit was unable to get by, resulting in the 2015 Le Mans winner losing valuable time.
“I am not overly happy with my afternoon because it was a pretty difficult race for us. I found myself in the wrong place at turn one and lost a position, which made things a bit harder for me.
“The main problem in the race was after our first pit stop, when we fell behind the Toro Rosso of Kvyat and the Williams of Massa, and I just couldn’t get by. It’s so hard to overtake here and as soon as you get close to the car in front, you lose so much downforce and you destroy your tyres. That was the story of my race.
“I lost a place to Palmer at the second pit stop – that was my mistake actually and I hold my hand up and apologise to the team. During the pit stop I let the clutch slip and that made the car move, so the boys couldn’t fit the tyres properly and it cost us a little time.
Finishing in the points despite his struggles was a positive for Hulkenberg to take away from Budapest, but the Force India driver will be hoping for a much stronger result when he lines up for his home race at this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
“The next race in Germany should be fairly similar to this one: we have the same tyre compounds and the track has lots of medium-speed corners.
“We have shown today that even with a difficult race we can bring home points, but we need to do a better job in the coming races to pick up more points.”
