Nico Hülkenberg was relatively happy with the outcome of qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday as the Sahara Force India driver claimed seventh on the grid for Sunday’s race.
The German driver finished 0.136 seconds behind team-mate Sergio Perez, but bemoaned a small power unit issue that cost him some time down the straights in the final segment of qualifying.
Despite likely to be on the wrong tyres for the start – Hülkenberg will use the Supersoft tyre for the first stint – the German believes it was the right decision to use them in Q2 as it would have been difficult to make it into Q3 on the Soft compound.
“I’m reasonably satisfied with our performance today,” reflected Hülkenberg. “Q1 and Q2 went to plan, but I had an issue with the power unit during Q3 and that cost me some time down the straights and proved quite costly.
“We’ve got to start the race on the supersoft tyres, but I think we made the right decision to use them in Q2 because it would have been difficult to make Q3 on the softs.
“It’s certainly going to be a challenging race if the weather stays this warm because Spa is already a demanding track on tyres in cool conditions. We need to explore our options tonight and make the right decisions tomorrow.”
