Renault and Hülkenberg Best of the Rest at Silverstone
Nico Hülkenberg, who already delivered Renault's best qualifying performance since their return to Formula 1 with a sixth place converted to fifth due to Valtteri Bottas's penalty, managed to finish sixth in the British Grand Prix.
The team based in Enstone, not far from the Silverstone circuit, achieved its best result of the year thanks to a solid race by Nico Hülkenberg. Early in the race, the former Force India driver quickly lost his fifth place to Valtteri Bottas before later being overtaken by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. After stopping on the twenty-fourth lap to swap his super-soft tires for soft ones, Hülkenberg kept a reasonable distance from the two Force India cars.
Unfortunately, victim of an issue with his energy recovery system, reducing his straight-line speed, the German had to give up his sixth place to Daniel Ricciardo but eventually regained it thanks to Sebastian Vettel’s puncture at the end of the race.
After the race, Nico Hülkenberg expressed his satisfaction in maintaining a good finishing position while beating both Force India: “We are delighted with today’s result. This sixth place is a great victory for the team. We were able to perform a good lap in qualifying before realizing it in the race. Our pace was good and we were able to stay ahead of the Force India, which is positive.”
The driver from Germany then mentions the issue that affected his ERS: « Towards the end, we lost a bit of power, especially on the straights. This made it easier for Daniel, but we were able to regain a position when Sebastian (Vettel) encountered his problem. »
In conclusion, the German emphasizes the contribution of the changes made to the R.S.17, particularly in terms of the floor: « It’s a very positive result overall. The new developments worked very well, we were able to attack with the car and I am pleased for the team. »
The race was much shorter for Jolyon Palmer, who started from the eleventh spot on the grid, as an hydraulic issue forced the Briton to stop his car at the side of the track during the formation lap before the start of the race: « It’s really frustrating to have to give up at the start. We had a hydraulic leak on the first lap. It was quite maddening because I think we were well-positioned. We started eleventh, with new tires, a very good car, and many possible strategies. Everything was in place to score points. I received so much support this weekend that it would have been nice to score some. We can still see that the car has progressed, but we now need to address the reliability. »
The good result from this Grand Prix weekend allows the Franco-British team to close in to three points behind Haas in the constructor standings and seven points behind Toro Rosso, with both teams leaving Silverstone empty-handed.
