Nico Hülkenberg celebrates Renault’s 40 years in F1 with a 5th place on the grid

Silverstone is a weekend of celebration for Renault, which is marking the 40th anniversary of its entry into F1. The least that can be said is that Nico Hülkenberg contributed to the French team’s celebrations by achieving his best qualifying result of the season.

Thanks to Valtteri Bottas’s penalty, the German will be able to start in 5th position, right behind the three best teams. He could only be pleased with this performance: « Our qualifying session was very successful today. We will start just behind the leading teams. I had a good pace and the times followed. The team made the right choices at the right moments according to the track conditions. Everything went smoothly. I was calm and confident at the wheel, which allowed me to perform a nice lap. »

He was also pleased to note that the improvements made by the team worked as expected: « Our evolutions available this weekend also seem to have played a role in our step forward. » He therefore hopes to score big points in tomorrow’s race, which hasn’t happened to him since Montreal.

Jolyon Palmer is in an ideal position to score his first points of the year as he managed to qualify in 11th place: « I was really in tune with the car today and I am pleased with this result. Perhaps we could have gained about a tenth, but we will be much better placed on the grid than in the recent events. I hope I can progress further to score points tomorrow. I am quite confident about our race. »

After such qualifications, Renault was able to invite a large part of the paddock to celebrate Renault’s 40th anniversary since its arrival in Formula 1, following a demonstration by René Arnoux and Frank Montagny.

From our special correspondent in Silverstone