Satisfaction at Sahara Force India with 10 points scored in Austria

The lack of sleep and fatigue caused by his intense race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans did not in any way diminish Nico Hülkenberg’s abilities throughout his comeback weekend in Formula 1. After a very impressive fifth place in qualifying, he managed to finish 6th in the race. He admits he couldn’t have hoped for much better: “I am very satisfied with this sixth place today. From the start, we knew it would be difficult to keep Bottas’s Williams behind us. Finishing 6th was probably the best we could do. We fought well, side-by-side, and exchanged positions several times, but it was difficult to maintain at his absolute level.”

The excellent performance of the German was consolidated by the two points brought in by Sergio Perez. He was on the attack during his first stint, especially against the two Lotus drivers: « I had a very good start and first lap: the objective was to get past Maldonado who was the first driver on soft tires. We succeeded. During the first stint, I had a lot of pressure from the two Lotus drivers but we remained strong and the race was really promising. »

But the Mexican driver was then going to experience a setback during his pit stop, which would compromise the rest of his race: « Unfortunately, we lost time during a slow pit stop. It was hard to recover, especially since I came out behind Ericsson and Nasr. The second stint wasn’t easy because I had a lot of vibrations on my front tires, which cost me some speed.”

Robert Fernley, the team’s deputy director, could only be delighted at the end of the race: « Leaving Austria with ten additional points and fifth place in the championship is an extraordinary result. We were fast all weekend and it’s very satisfying to convert this speed into valuable points. »