It had taken a long time, but in Brazil Nico Hülkenberg was finally able to celebrate his entry into Q3 as the last driver in the field. The German had already reached the top 10 in the last two sprint qualifications, but not in a “real” qualifying. In Sao Paulo the time had come.
“It’s impressive how long it took,” laughs the Sauber driver after the session, who can’t really explain this phase: “I don’t think there’s a clear explanation for it,” he says. “It’s just a thing, you work through it, you keep grinding, you look at things, you work your way in, you have to dig a little deeper than usual when things aren’t going well.”
“And somehow we found a little more comfort for me. Found another gear and managed to unlock more and more performance over one lap.”
But actually not much would have been missing and the day would have been completely different, because Hülkenberg just finished last in Q1 and Q2. If Max Verstappen and Red Bull had been in normal form in Q1, Hülkenberg would have already reached the end of the line, and in Q2, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) also had a big name instead of the German.
“It wasn’t an easy session,” he says. “The wind made the car quite unpredictable and difficult to drive, the balance was tricky overall which made it difficult to really get the laps together.”
But what counts in the end is the place in the top 10. “It’s great to have made it to Q3. That’s definitely something to be happy about,” he says. “Under these conditions, this is a solid result.”
Team had to rebuild car
You have to keep in mind that the Sauber crew first had to get their car running again after the accident in a sprint. Along with Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto, Hülkenberg was one of the victims in Turn 3 and flew into the barriers. In contrast to his colleagues, he came back to the pits and was able to continue the sprint.
“Big compliments to the team,” says Hülkenberg. “They did a great job getting the car ready in such a short time.” Fortunately, the car itself didn’t suffer any major damage, just the front and rear wings – and a little to the underbody. “But they somehow patched it up,” said the German.
Team boss Jonathan Wheatley would also like to highlight the team’s performance: “After Nico’s incident in the sprint race, they repaired his car during the red phase and then had to remove the gearbox immediately afterwards to fix another problem,” he says.
There was also Gabriel Bortoleto’s sister car, which was completely destroyed and ran out of time at the end – but Hülkenberg’s car was prepared for qualifying, which laid the foundation for a place in the top 10.
Can Sauber still come out of ninth place?
“The positive thing is: Nico had a clean qualifying and deservedly got his first Q3 participation of the season, P10. Given the challenges today, this is a very encouraging result,” said Wheatley. “I leave the track today proud of the team and confident for the race.”
It will be important for Sauber to pick up points there, because despite scoring points in Austin and Mexico, the Swiss racing team has slipped back to ninth place. But: Haas is only missing two points, Aston Martin and the Racing Bulls are missing twelve each.
“It looks like a dry race – that could be a challenge, but we will give it our all,” says Hülkenberg looking ahead. “There are a few fast cars behind us, so we have to be smart, stay clean and take every opportunity. The goal is always points and we will fight hard to score them.”