Nico Hülkenberg drove superbly during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, setting the third quickest time in the mixed conditions, which will translate to a front row grid slot for Sunday’s race.
The Sahara Force India driver will move up to join Lewis Hamilton on the front row due to a grid penalty handed to Nico Rosberg, and took advantage of the drying conditions, switching from the intermediate Pirelli tyre early to return to the slicks.
Hülkenberg believes the team have the opportunity for a good result on race day in Austria having shown good pace throughout the weekend, with the German still looking for his first podium finish of his Formula 1 career.
“A great qualifying session and I’m feeling very happy and satisfied with our performance,” said Hülkenberg. “The drying track today reminded me of my pole position from Brazil 2010 and I have to say I really enjoy these tricky conditions.
“You don’t know where the grip is; you have to take some risks and you have to switch to dry tyres at just the right moment – which is something we did today. It was just a super effort from the whole team and it puts us in a great position for the race.
“There will be a lot of quick cars around us, but my car feels good and we’ve been strong here in all the sessions so I think we can bring home a lot of points.”
