Nico Hülkenberg was satisfied with his performance during Friday’s two Free Practice Sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with the German finishing inside the top ten in both.
The Renault Sport Formula 1 Team racer was tenth in the morning session and ninth in the second, but despite this he feels there is still some performance to be found with his RS17, which will be needed to be a genuine threat to the top ten in Saturday’s Qualifying session.
“Overall it was a pretty standard Friday, we missed out on a bit of running but we will manage,” said Hülkenberg. “The car seems competitive balance-wise but we still have room for improvement.
“I think we can still optimize the package tomorrow morning but overall, a good start.”
Team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. finished eleventh in both sessions, but felt happier in the car in the morning than he did in the afternoon. The Spaniard, racing for Renault for only the second time following his move from Scuderia Toro Rosso, still feels a strong Saturday is possible as he looks to build on his impressive result in the United States Grand Prix, where he finished seventh.
“We had a good start in FP1, we were feeling quite comfortable with the car,” said Sainz. “However, in FP2, we were struggling a little bit to find the right balance.
“We will work hard on finding the answers for tomorrow and hope to be back in a comfortable spot with the car.
“I’m sure we can put together a strong Saturday here in Mexico to have good options to help the team on Sunday.”
