Nico Hülkenberg was unable to take advantage of the rainy conditions at Spa and was knocked out in Q1 – hope lies in top speed and sunshine on Sunday
You would think that rainy conditions would be an opportunity for Nico Hülkenberg – especially on a drivers’ circuit like Spa-Francorchamps. But not much went right for the German and his Haas team in qualifying in Belgium on Saturday: For him and team-mate Kevin Magnussen, it was already over after the first qualifying section.
Hülkenberg was more than two tenths of a second down on Lance Stroll in front of him, leaving him stuck in 16th place in Q1; Magnussen was a further two tenths behind in 17th.
According to him, this was not due to a wrong strategy by his team or a wrong time on the track: “It was all optimized,” he told Sky. “But the lap just wasn’t fast enough. It was a very ‘egg-headed’ lap, I would say. I just couldn’t find the grip. The rear was very, very nervous and unstable, even on the intermediate.”
It was noticeable that Hülkenberg was particularly slow in the second sector: he needed 53.5 seconds for the downforce sector, and Magnussen was only just under a tenth faster. By comparison, Valtteri Bottas in the Sauber completed the sector in 52.7 seconds, with the top drivers even posting times of under 52 seconds.
“I think we simply lack speed, we lack grip. In general, we haven’t really felt comfortable on intermediates this year. Our car has certain problems there. And that unfortunately continued today,” he says, looking for an explanation
One possible explanation could also be that Haas is opting for a little less downforce in view of the dry Sunday. But there’s no way of knowing for sure.
“I don’t know whether the others opted for a little more downforce before qualifying in order to be more competitive in the wet,” he says. “But I haven’t seen if that’s the case yet. Of course, it could be useful for tomorrow if we are fast on the straights, because then we can overtake people.”
But whether that is the explanation or not, Hülkenberg believes that a dry race on Sunday would be better for Haas – and fortunately for him, it looks like it will be. “I actually prefer dry conditions to mixed or wet conditions, because we simply don’t have the speed,” he says
“You can overtake here in the dry, maybe we can do something with our top speed.”
And the German also knows that a lot can always happen at Spa. “So there’s no reason to get nervous. We have to focus on doing a good job and getting the best out of every day. “
