Nico Hülkenberg felt it was a ‘quite successful’ Qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday as the German racer qualified seventh on the grid for the United States Grand Prix.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team racer was part of the extremely close midfield battle that saw positions six through ten separated by less than half a second, and he was edged out of that sixth position by Racing Point Force India F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon by just 0.070 seconds.
In Q2, Hülkenberg had denied team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. a position inside the top ten by two-thousandths of a second, but overall the German felt it was a positive session for him as he believed he got the most out of his R.S.18.
“I’m pretty pleased with a smooth qualifying as we got the potential out of the car,” said Hülkenberg, who is part of a five-driver battle for seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship alongside Ocon, Sergio Pérez, Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen. “To be honest it felt quite tough out there in terms of car balance as it’s very windy and you really feel that in the car.
“The balance changes quite drastically from one corner to another which makes it quite tricky – and it didn’t feel too pretty – but it was the same for all of us trying to produce clean laps.
“I pushed as hard as I could, and I think we were quite successful today.”
