Nico Hulkenberg finished today’s Bahrain Grand Prix in sixth position but knows the midfield is incredibly competitive.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team driver started the race from seventh on the grid, promoted one place by Lewis Hamilton’s five-place grid penalty. Although overtaken by the Brit during the race, Hulkenberg benefitted from two retirements ahead of him – Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo.
The German also had a close battle with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, but ultimately, it was the Dane who came out on top, finishing in fifth place.
This result leaves Hulkenberg in sixth place in the Drivers Championship, only one point shy of Raikkonen in fifth. His team-mate, Carlos Sainz Jr. has only one point and is down in thirteenth place.
“We got the maximum from the race today, which is a positive,” he commented.
“We didn’t quite have the pace to compete with the cars ahead of us and that leaves me a little disappointed, so it’s clear the midfield fight is very close.
“It was a busy race and our main focus was fuel saving whilst still trying to race other cars and I think we managed that quite well tonight.”
