Nico Hülkenberg puts Sahara Force India ahead of Ferrari

Nico Hülkenberg’s strong qualifying form continues as the German managed to set the 5th fastest time of the session. His performance in Mexico is all the more remarkable as it allowed him to regularly outpace the two Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel.

He believes this is simply his best lap of the season, having finished third in challenging conditions in Austria: « It was a very good qualifying session for me. I am very happy with this result. Our car now works well on all tracks but I felt increasingly comfortable as the track improved. My first lap in Q3 was great, perhaps my best qualifying lap of the year. I don’t think I could have done better. »

But after his repeated clashes at the start, like in Singapore or Austin, the German knows that it’s on Sunday that points are won. So he doesn’t want to get caught in a negative spiral: « We must avoid problems at the start, but I won’t let what happened last week influence me. Every time you arrive at the first corner, there is a unique dynamic. You just have to play it by ear. »

On the other hand, Sergio Perez was not able to make it into Q3 in front of the thousands of compatriots who came to support him. He made a mistake on his last lap of Q2, which dashed his last hopes of advancing: « In Q2, we tried to go out on soft tires, but for my second run, we put on the super softs. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake on my last lap, which prevented me from making it into the top 10. I just locked up my front tires going into the first corner and went wide. »

The Mexican will therefore bet on an offensive strategy to climb up and secure his team’s fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.