Nico Hülkenberg reveals: This is what surprised him during the race at Madring

For Nico Hülkenberg, one thing was clear after the race on the Madrid street circuit: he couldn’t have done much more. The blond-haired driver finished eleventh in his Audi, but benefited from Pierre Gasly’s grid penalty – imposed for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane – and thus narrowly made it into the points in tenth place.

Afterwards, the 39-year-old, who now lives in Monaco, explained: “There simply wasn’t much more to be had today. If I’d started further up the grid and been able to defend that position, then perhaps seventh place might have been possible. But that was quite obviously not the case, and all things considered, it wasn’t a bad race.”

Looking at the competition, the German admitted: “I do think the Alpine cars were quite competitive here. Pierre’s pace was impressive. So we’re still lacking a bit of speed.” And, referring to the opening metres, he said: “I started from the right-hand side, so I was on the outside line in the first corner and then on the inside in the second. That’s where I was pushed out by Esteban Ocon, who was taking a wide line and had no one in front of him. That’s why he unfortunately overtook me there.”

Hülkenberg also revealed: “The track is quite risky and tricky at these high speeds, so I’m a bit surprised that there was so little going on in Formula 1. There was actually plenty of action in the support races. It was also clear that if anything were to happen, it would be something big. I thought it was pretty cool; it was fun to take part in qualifying. The circuit is very demanding; you really have to push to the limit. For the race, however, the track isn’t ideal.”

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