Sahara Force India F1 Team ©
Yesterday in an official press release from the Sahara Force India team, Nico Hulkenberg expressed his disappointment of retiring from the United States Grand Prix due to engine problems.
In his press release yesterday, Hulkenberg was not happy to have retired from the Grand Prix due to engine problems on his car and believes the debris from Perez’s and Sutil’s crash contributed to his problems. Hulkenberg stated the following:-
‘Unfortunately an early end to my race. I lost drive and had no more power so the team told me over the radio to stop the car. Even before that it had not been an easy race with a very difficult first lap.
‘I was right behind Sergio and Adrian when they crashed, and Sergio’s front wing just happened to fall right in front of my car. I ran over it, which caused damage to my car and the tyres.’
Of course Hulkenberg is bound to be disappointed to have retired from the race yesterday after a difficult weekend for him and the Force India team who struggled to get on the pace. With Hulkenberg losing power and drive in the car, he had no choice but to retire from the race and it would also seem that the debris from Perez’s and Sutil’s crash on Lap 1 contributed to his performance in the race too after running over it.
Further on in his press release, Hulkenberg has stated that he was on the same strategy as the McLarens and was disappointed to have retired from the race yesterday. Hulkenberg added the following:-
‘I dived into the pits and lost quite a lot of track position. After that I was running behind the McLarens on a similar strategy with the plan to run the softs at the end of the race.
‘It’s always disappointing to end a race with retirement but fortunately we have the next race in seven days so I will soon be back in the car. Sao Paulo is one of my favourite races and hopefully we can have a better weekend there.’
It would seem that Hulkenberg on the same strategy as the McLarens if he was able to continue during the race could have maybe challenged them on track, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I understand that Hulkenberg will be disappointed with his performance in Austin this weekend but he is now focusing his attention on Brazil in six days time and hopes to have a better weekend there.
If Hulkenberg can get the right set up during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, then you can be sure that he will be challenging on track for the best position possible. And with Hulkenberg having a good track record at the Interlagos circuit over the past few years, this will spur and motivate him further to get a good result next weekend.
And I really hope that Hulkenberg has a better weekend in Brazil than in Austin and is rewarded with a great result in the process after a tough few races for him and the Force India team.
