Nico Hulkenberg came home in a lacklustre 15th for Force India in a race that hardly even got going for him as he was caught up in the first corner melee and suffered from damage that forced him into the pits, something which the German says hampered rest of the race.
“A difficult and disappointing race where not much went to plan. I made a poor start away from the line and was on the back foot going into turn one. Then suddenly three or four cars backed up on the apex and I nudged the back of somebody, which damaged my front wing and forced me to pit on lap one. From there onwards we tried to recover and pull off a two-stop strategy to get back in the race, but it proved very difficult.
Suffice to say that Hulkenberg didn’t have a quiet race from then on and was involved in various scraps, most notably with Sergio Perez, who also lost part of his front wing early on, and Marcus Ericsson, lamenting the battles which cost him time and tyre life, as he eventually committed to a four-stop strategy.
“I was always in traffic and involved in lots of fights so my tyre degradation was very high. I don’t think we’ve seen our true pace today because the first lap destroyed my race and we were out of synch with everybody and always playing catch up.”
The result leaves the former GP2 champion in ninth place in the drivers’ championship, with his six points the result of his seventh place finish in Melbourne. Hulkenberg will be looking forward to the next race in China, where he retired last year, in two weeks’ time.
