He no longer has the all-green helmet, but his nickname definitely fits the race he managed to build at the Spanish Grand Prix. Nico Hulkenberg was a major protagonist at Montmelo with an exceptional comeback, finishing in a dream fifth place after a race all out attack.
The German Sauber driver, after being eliminated already in Q1 in yesterday’s qualifying, put together 66 laps with determination, which, also thanks to the fortunate intervention of the Safety Car, elevated him even into the Top 5 after overtaking none other than Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
“It was a great race. One of those where everything seems to work. It’s very nice when that happens. It doesn’t happen often, unfortunately, but today it did. Having all those new tires helped us. So being eliminated in Q1 was useful and helped a lot,” explained a happy Hulkenberg at the end of the race.
“Obviously the Safety Car that came out towards the end of the race was timely, because I was able to put on another set of Soft tires. I am very happy and we take this result. The only way you can help yourself is by bringing upgrades that make the car take quality leaps. And we did that.”
If in Melbourne the first – and so far only – points scored came in a rather uncertain race, in Barcelona Sauber built its fortunes thanks to a series of factors that brought it firmly into the midfield fight.
First and foremost, the introduction of a new floor and new sidepods that work in sync. The Hinwil cars immediately made a clear step forward on a track that, as is known, punishes those that start badly. This is why Hulkenberg is starting to look to the future with more confidence.
“I don’t know what this result means for the team. We will see. But for the moment it’s a really sweet thing. For the second time we scored points, but Melbourne was a particular race. Now, instead, I can say that we really put ourselves in the midfield battle. We really caught the right train. We know everything is very tight in terms of gaps and that everything must be done perfectly to work. We hope to manage it.”
To conclude, the German was honest in describing the overtake on Hamilton, which earned him first sixth place, then fifth after the penalty imposed on Max Verstappen.
“Passing a Ferrari is unusual. Lewis had a set of used Soft tires, while we had new ones. This shows how decisive the tires are. Lewis was slipping a lot, while I had new tires and this, to be honest, made all the difference.”
“I believe our progress was made more because of the upgrades we brought here, than because of the new technical directive on front wings. I think other teams suffered more than us from the wing change, I don’t feel much difference at high speed. And, to be honest, high speeds are not our strong point. That’s why I think our progress is due to the upgrades.”
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