Sauber was one of the big losers on the Formula 1 test trips in Bahrain. RTL expert Christian Danner believes that it will be a difficult year for Nico Hülkenberg.
“Nico Hülkenberg has once again arrived on the hard ground of Formula 1 reality,” said the 66-year-old in an exclusive conversation with RTL/NTV and sport.de. “The car is slow, the car doesn’t work. And it has to fight with it, he has to suffer from it.” Christian Danner’s statements about the Formula 1 tests are also available in the video above, which opens instead of the article image.
The frustration could continue in two weeks at the start of the season. Hülkenberg is simply not used to “crabs around at the end of the field,” Danner recalled. It seems to be running out of it but.
During the test drives on the Bahrain International Circuit, the 37-year-old marked the second best time. Only Ollie Bearman in the Haas was even slower. Hülkenberg separated over 2 seconds on Thursday on his best round of Carlos Sainz im Williams.
However, Danner didn’t want to read too much into the Time-Tableau. Because only on the racing simulations – the Longruns – you could really rely. “McLaren was very superior,” noted the long-term RTL face.
Formula 1: Ferrari convinced, question marks at Red Bull
Ultimately, curious conditions in Bahrain had also prevailed. “This leads to everyone going to Australia and not exactly what comes out,” said the former Formula 1 pilot.
Nevertheless, Danner made some observations. Lewis Hamilton sees the RTL expert on course after his first working days at Ferrari. The newcomer to the newcomer immediately succeeded in the second fastest time of the entire tests.
“It already worked, even if it wasn’t the very fastest. The important thing is: you get along, know the car and have a good start of work,” Danner ordered.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen demonstratively spread at Red Bull. However, the expert does not expect the return to the old dominance. “At Red Bull you took small steps in development because you were careful,” said Danner. The car will ride the car in front of the field, but will not degenerate the competition, according to his assessment.