Aside from the weather, Nico Hülkenberg felt the opening day of track running ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix was ‘pretty straightforward’ as the German finished inside the top ten in both free practice sessions on Friday.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team racer, who has scored points in both of the opening races of the season in Australia and Bahrain, finished tenth fastest in Friday mornings session at the Shanghai International circuit, 1.801 seconds down on pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, before improving to sixth fastest in the afternoon session, just 0.831 seconds back.
Hülkenberg feels Renault has started positively this weekend and have a good starting point with their R.S.18, and he hopes this can continue into the rest of the weekend, particularly in Qualifying as they aim for a sixth consecutive top ten start, with the German last failing to advance into Q3 in last years United States Grand Prix.
“It was pretty windy in the morning session then we did see some rain at the end of the afternoon session otherwise it’s been pretty straightforward,” said Hülkenberg.
“We’ve got a good starting point with the car here so it’s a case of seeing what we can do to get the most out of qualifying tomorrow then the race on Sunday.”
