Nico Hülkenberg says missing out on a points finish after such a strong evening at the Sakhir International Circuit was a ‘hard one to swallow’ after a late mechanical issue side-lined him whilst running sixth with just three laps remaining.
Having started seventeenth after an electrical glitch during Saturday’s Qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hülkenberg had played a starring role in the race and was on course for an excellent sixth place finish only for both he and Renault F1 Team team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to retire with three laps to go, both pulling off the track at turn one.
Hülkenberg was disappointed to see the opportunity to secure a second consecutive points finish disappear, but the sudden loss of power at the end of the main straight curtailed his evening.
“It’s definitely a hard one to swallow today,” admitted Hülkenberg. “This sport can be so tough sometimes. It was a great ride out there with lots of battling on track to go from seventeenth to sixth, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the finish line.
“We’ll look into what happened, but I lost power quite suddenly and that was that.”
Before the retirement, Hülkenberg had enjoyed a positive day, with early on-track passes and a good pit strategy to put them into a strong position, only for the late heartbreak to occur.
“It was a fun race with a crazy first lap which I had to survive and by then I had to keep my head down,” said the German. “The team did a great job on the two-stop strategy today and we can take positives from that.
“We have to be cleaner going forward and make sure we don’t face anymore disappointments like this.”
