Nico Hülkenberg reveals: he expects a lot of resistance from these Audi rivals

For Nico Hülkenberg, the first half of the season proved to be a test of patience. Whilst his Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto was able to score his first World Championship points for the works team with the four rings as early as the season opener in Melbourne, the German had to leave ten races without any points to his name. It wasn’t until the final race before the summer break that things finally clicked: at the Hungaroring, Hülkenberg celebrated ninth place and, with it, his first two World Championship points.

Will he now manage to finish in the top 10 on a regular basis? Speaking in the paddock at Zandvoort, the experienced Audi driver said: “Well, we’ll have to wait and see. But of course it was good to have achieved that. We went through some difficult moments at the start of the season, but we stuck together, and I think we now have a competitive, solid package to fight it out in the midfield.”

Audi: Potential not yet fully realised

Looking at the main rivals, the 39-year-old revealed: “I’m expecting a close, tough battle with the Racing Bulls, with the Alpine lads and perhaps sometimes with a few other teams as well.” And he made it clear: “The aim, of course, is to score points regularly and more consistently.”

When asked, Hülkenberg insisted that his car has plenty of potential. However, he also warned: “Everyone is going flat out; everyone is continuing to develop and bringing updates to the track. And, of course, we’re a new team when it comes to the power unit – we’re starting from scratch. What’s more, we’re only supplying engines to two cars, whilst many others, of course, supply several teams, so it might take a bit longer for us to be on a level playing field there.”

“But we definitely have much more potential; there’s still plenty of room for improvement, we know that. However, many of these issues are more long-term in nature; to a large extent, they also concern next year,” added the blond-haired driver.

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