After scoring points in the sprint, Nico Hülkenberg can celebrate ninth place in qualifying in Miami – set-up not changed after successful short race
“It’s going well today, you could say,” grins Nico Hülkenberg after a successful Saturday in Miami. The German scored two valuable points in the sprint in the morning and finished in the top 10 again with his Haas in qualifying in the afternoon, where he ultimately finished ninth
For him, it was “definitely one of the best Saturdays with Haas and maybe in my career”, as he told Sky. “I don’t think we can get much more out of it, we can’t ask for much more,” he emphasizes and is therefore “very, very satisfied”.
In general, however, Hülkenberg also had some problems in qualifying that affected all drivers. There was still strong track development in Q1, “but then it flattened out and you hit a wall,” he explains.
“Normally we’re used to finding more time and if we don’t, then it’s easy to overdo it, which has happened to me a lot,” he admits. “It was a bit strange in that respect, but I’m happy with the qualifying performance. We took what we could. “
Set-up not changed
Haas had relied on the successful car from the sprint. Because the sprint went so well, no changes were made to the set-up before qualifying, even though the open parc ferme would have given them the opportunity to do so.
But Hülkenberg says: “We stuck with the set-up because there is still a residual risk. You just don’t know, it can go in the wrong direction, so we stuck with what we know from this morning. And that looked okay. We were competitive. “
IT’S Q3 TIMEEE!
And the Hulk is first out on track F1 MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/e8n2XFMWBq
– Formula 1 (@F1) May 4, 2024
This of course also opens up the hope of a good result in the race. The German does not believe that he can fight with the top 8 in front of him. Instead, he sees Yuki Tsunoda as his main rival for possible points. The Japanese driver will start directly next to Hülkenberg from tenth position.
From Hülkenberg’s point of view, it would be important that he manages to get a clear run and control the pace in midfield, as he did in China two weeks ago
No Hamilton penalty: “Strange decisions “
And who knows, maybe he will be able to benefit from potential chaos at the start, as he did in the sprint. Because that was the basis for seventh place in the morning. At least he will start directly behind Lewis Hamilton, who caused the chaos in the sprint.
But Hülkenberg laughs: “I think he’ll approach things a little differently tomorrow.”
However, he admits that he was “very surprised” that Hamilton got away without a penalty for his action. “Because he’s already taken three cars out of the race this morning,” said the Haas driver. “Sometimes they are strange decisions. “
Speaking of no penalty: Carlos Sainz was also left without a penalty, despite standing in Hülkenberg’s way before the last corner. The Haas driver criticized this: “It always looks more relaxed from the onboard, but we arrive here at 340 and my colleague is still on the racing line when I hit the brakes. That’s obviously not ideal.”
“It’s just visually distracting and you don’t know: Is he going to leave? Is it not going away?” says Hülkenberg. Although he says that it didn’t really affect his qualifying in the end, “but it was unnecessary on his part. He could have gone over earlier. That wouldn’t have cost him anything. “
