Nico Hülkenberg scores Renault’s first units
Renault finally managed to pocket its first points of the season, thanks to Nico Hülkenberg's ninth-place finish. Jolyon Palmer dropped out of the top 10 to finish 13th.
Hülkenberg fulfills the great promises
Renault finally secured its top 10, after a dry spell in the first two races. It was their leader, Nico Hülkenberg, who allowed them to score their first two points of the season. However, the German driver did not have an ideal race and did not maintain his seventh place achieved in qualifying.
He was therefore not completely satisfied with his performance since he could not resist the comeback of his former teammate, Sergio Perez: « It’s good to score the first points of the season. I think I had a good race considering the pace of the car. I fought hard and those two points were the best possible result with our strategy. We are much better in qualifying. »
The upcoming tests will therefore be important for the team as they will be able to try out the new developments made at Enstone, which could allow them to improve their race pace in the following races: « Over the 57 laps of the race, we identify the areas where we need to make progress. We will have developments to test on Tuesday, when I will be driving. I hope this will help us improve our race pace before Sochi. »
“It’s good to have the first points of the season on the board and I think I had a good race given the pace of the car (…)” 📸 Jerry Andre pic.twitter.com/hArgpmyAxK
— Nico Hülkenberg (@HulkHülkenberg) 16 avril 2017
Soothing a tone down on an injured beast
The same misfortune struck the Brit, who had finally managed to reach Q3 in yesterday’s session. The 2015 GP2 champion fought for most of the race with Daniil Kvyat and Fernando Alonso. But his car became even more unruly as it was damaged during multiple contacts with the Russian’s Toro Rosso: « It was a difficult race. I fought well with Alonso and Kvyat after the safety car bunched up the pack. But the few contacts with Kvyat didn’t help matters. I really didn’t have the pace to do better, and it seemed to me that my tires were degrading faster than my competitors’. It was a tough evening, where we had to contend with a lack of performance. »
It’s therefore an encouraging race but leaves a sense of incompleteness for the Franco-British team.
