Nico Hulkenberg hopes he “can target points” during this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, as the Force India driver has not scored since Melbourne’s season opener nearly three months ago.
The German came quite close to make his top-ten return during the previous round held at Monaco. But a first lap clash with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso sent him into the barriers at Mirabeau, leaving him on the fringes of the points-paying positions.
Team-mate Sergio Perez’ strong P7 and Hulkenberg’s post-incident recovery suggested the 27-year-old had the pace to challenge for points in the principality.
“I am looking forward to getting back to racing in Canada after leaving Monaco empty-handed,” said Hulkenberg. “I feel we could have been in the points but obviously the incident on the first lap robbed us of a chance to maximise our result.”
The 2009 GP2 Series finished fifth at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 12 months ago and is confident the Île Notre-Dame venue will play to his Mercedes-powered VJM08’s strengths.
“The track in Montreal should be one that suits us,” declared Hulkenberg who is racing with the iconic No 27 local hero Gilles Villeneuve famously sported at Ferrari.
“It’s a power circuit because of the long straights and you need good traction to get out of the low-speed corners. To be quick you need to attack the kerbs and be brave enough to get close to the walls.
“We will have soft and supersoft tyres again, which worked quite well for us in Monaco, so I think we can target points this weekend.”
After competing in Canada, Hulkenberg will travel Circuit de La Sarthe, where he will take part in the 83rd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours with Porsche.
Click here for a look back at Robert Kubica's only Formula One victory in Canada
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…
Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…
Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…
Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…
Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…
Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top of the timesheets for the second time in Las…