Renault Sport F1 Team‘s Nico Hülkenberg will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from seventh on the grid tomorrow, after being promoted one position thanks to Daniel Ricciardo‘s engine penalty.
Hülkenberg narrowly out-qualified new team-mate, Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished ninth fastest, but will also be promoted one place. The German was adamant that he extracted the absolute maximum from the car, and was disappointed that there was not more rain in the session to further mix up the order.
He is pleased with the long run pace of the car, citing that Sahara Force India F1 Team, McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team and Williams Martini Racing will all be their main competition during Sunday’s race. He will also have to contend with a charging Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton, who crashed in Q1 and subsequently starts the race from last.
“That was a good qualifying effort today and I think it was as good as it gets from the car here,” commented Hülkenberg.
“We had some nice laps at the end of Q3 so I’m happy with that. Of course, I would have liked there to have been a little more rain to mix it up a bit, but that wasn’t to be.
The name of the game tomorrow is to get to the chequered flag and to get points. We have reasonable race pace so it should be a good battle with Force India, McLaren and Williams; let’s see what happens.”
