Hulkenberg happy with sixth in Austria

It was somewhat of a surprise to see the Force India qualify in fifth position yesterday, even Nico Hulkenberg thought that was higher than what was achievable, but he managed to keep that form going through the race.

The German on the back of his Le Mans win last week brought that form to the race weekend in Austria and performed well, despite losing out to Valtteri Bottas who was slightly out of position in the Williams.

He said after the race, “I’m very satisfied with sixth place today. Going into the race we always knew it would be difficult to keep the Williams of Bottas behind me, so bringing the car home in sixth was probably the maximum we could achieve.

“I had some good wheel-to-wheel battles with him and we swapped places a few times, but it was hard to match their absolute pace. Overall it’s been a great weekend: I found a nice rhythm and I have been very happy with the performance of the car.

“With Checo in the points as well, it’s been an excellent weekend for us and we can be proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s an important boost ahead of Silverstone where we hope to make another step forward.”

Deputy Team Principal, Bob Fernley said, “To come away from Austria with ten more points and fifth place in the championship is a tremendous result. We’ve shown good pace all weekend and it’s very satisfying to convert that speed into valuable points.

“Nico drove a very clean and tidy race, and realistically it would have been difficult to have finished higher up the order.

“The same is true for Sergio who was on the opposite strategy to Nico, but made the progress he needed in the early laps on the soft tyres. Despite a slightly lengthy pit stop he was able to recover to ninth place and pick up a couple of points.

“It means that we remain very well placed ahead of our local race at Silverstone where we plan to introduce the next step for the VJM08.”

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