Nico Hülkenberg: satisfied with Force India’s season

The fact that he is ahead of 2 world champions in the standings delights the German driver.

To be honest, I am. You have to look at what solutions we have, how fast the car is; we have to stay realistic, since the beginning of the season we are a bit behind. Some teams have overtaken us like Williams. We were ahead of them, or at least as fast as them at the start, but now we’ve fallen back because we haven’t developed the car enough, I would say. The car is what it is now and we have to be happy with what we can achieve and try to maximize all that, he admits.

There will not have been any major development brought to the car at Spa, however other developments must arrive to get ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ standings: on the development, here’s what Hülkenberg said:

« People at Spa have brought lower downforce levels because it’s a high-speed circuit with many straights—and that’s what we have, but other than that we don’t have many updates for this weekend. Back at the factory in Silverstone, the guys are working very hard to make some upgrades, which are coming in the next two races. The standings are what they are. Sometimes, updates take time: you can’t change things overnight. It’s always a long process if you want to make a major overhaul: find something, build it, and then implement it in the car. I hope we’ll find the solution soon enough to reach our goals ».

The former Williams driver is not worried about the continuation of his F1 career, admitting that other drivers are talented as Vijay Mallya points out when he mentions Bottas.

« Not really. You have to be realistic and give credit to what Valterri is doing, but Daniel got even more credit in the Red Bull. So no, I’m not envious. He doesn’t worry me. He is quite talented. That’s how the sport works. He’s doing a good job, and he’s been on the podium a few times; he has a competitive car. When you get on the podium, it’s quite normal for the world to see it: the TV channels, the media, the bosses, and the team.

The teammate of Sergio Perez talks about the current Force India season when the car is at its best, but also when it is not. He also discusses the Hungarian Grand Prix and considers it a dark race:

Being in F1 in such a situation, you’re a bit like a passenger. You can do everything in your power, but there are so many things that are beyond your control: what we can develop, budget issues, many other questions. So there are limits to what you can do as an individual, but our team is doing everything possible, the rest you have to accept. Budapest? Deleted it! No memory… I felt very disappointed. It was one of those days. Sometimes you get up on the wrong side of the bed, apparently it was one of those days. I made a few mistakes which ended my race. But as I said, I left that behind and moved on. We had ten good races and one bad, I would say it’s a good percentage. In Hungary, we both had a black Sunday.