Nico Hulkenberg is back and he’s in the top 10 on the grid straight away. This is the result of the Formula 1 qualifying in Bahrain, which sees the German racing driver in tenth place and therefore in a promising position for the opening race on Sunday.
With what goal he is now going into this first Grand Prix, Hülkenberg is asked after qualifying by “ServusTV”. Hulkenberg replies succinctly: “Points.” Then he adds: “But the real endurance test is yet to come. I think it will be a difficult race for us.”
But he was “very happy” with his performance in qualifying, he emphasized. “Producing the laps went well. I found a good rhythm.” That makes him “satisfied” with his debut at Haas.
Team boss Günther Steiner praised Hülkenberg
And team boss Günther Steiner also finds words of praise, speaks of a “pretty good day” for his team and says: “Nico did a really fantastic job on his comeback. I think we now know what we can do this year.”
However, Hülkenberg himself does not want to overrate Saturday: “You could already see on Friday that our car works really well for one lap, that we are competitive.” He would therefore “not want to judge anything yet” because the qualification “only represents the preliminary interim statement”, said the 35-year-old.
But in qualifying, Hülkenberg did well and, in contrast to his teammate Kevin Magnussen, not only advanced to the second segment, but even into the top 10. And that despite the fact that his qualifying didn’t start well at first: Because red flags were shown, Hulkenberg did not get his first flying lap over the line.
“That wasn’t ideal because I was just coming to the last corner. So I had pretty much used up my tires,” says Hulkenberg. “I had gotten an impression of the car, but then I ended up with really used tyres, whereas everyone else had fresh tyres.”
After the first completed lap in Q1, Hülkenberg promptly got stuck in the back field, while other drivers put themselves in the limelight better. Or as he puts it himself: “It looked bad at first.”
With fresh tires the tide turns
But then the tide turned: When Hülkenberg also used fresh tires, he was quick immediately. “I then had the speed in the car and I’m satisfied with how I managed the laps,” he explains.
At the very end, however, it was “unfortunately not perfect,” admits Hülkenberg. On his only lap in Q3, he didn’t bring the performance to the racetrack ideally, but committed a track limit violation in turn 4. The lap time was gone, Hülkenberg was tenth without a time. A valid lap might have been better.
“I seem to have come out a little over the white line,” says Hulkenberg. “I knew it was tight, top-bottom lip, pin right down. Happens unfortunately, but it really didn’t make a difference to me. And it doesn’t ruin my day.”
Why Hülkenberg is relaxed about the race
He’s going into the race on Sunday in a similarly relaxed manner: “I think the experience that I’ve had for many years helps me, that I know what to expect, what to expect, what’s expected of me, what I have to do. I’m sober and pragmatic about it and just try to do my job properly.”
Plus point: As a regular driver, Hülkenberg has the experience from the winter tests with Haas and feels “one hundred percent better” prepared than with his various replacement assignments at Racing Point and Aston Martin in recent years.
How to explain the distance to Magnussen
Is that the reason for the gap of 0.614 seconds to teammate Magnussen in Q1? The latter puts his qualifying performance down to “traffic in the last corner on the second attempt” and says: “It was so tight, the entire field was pushed together. If you lose a little something there, then it’s over.” It was just “unfortunate” for him.
In fact, Magnussen ran into Sergio Perez’s Red Bull at the beginning of his final lap, but that could hardly have stopped him in the finish corner, after all Perez also started a last fast lap and quickly pulled away from Magnussen. As a result, however, the duo dug through a number of slow drivers who had already completed their flying lap.
But Steiner encourages Magnussen and says: “Today wasn’t his day, but Kevin knows what he’s capable of and he’s impressed by our car. The entire team did a great job last year and over the winter, to develop this car. That came into play on Saturday.”