Nico Hulkenberg insists he would rather start from eighth place than have free choice of tyres from ninth on the grid at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean was sitting in eighth late in Q2 on Saturday and opted not to run again, allowing Hulkenberg to beat the Haas and take up a place in Q3. The result was crucial as Hulkenberg is forced to start on used supersoft tyres from Q2 while Grosjean has two new sets of the red-walled Pirellis available to him and free choice of which compound to start on.
While acknowledging the strategic options available to the cars behind him, Hulkenberg says he would rather have the higher grid slot.
"It’s a nice result to make Q3 because we’ve had to work hard this weekend to get the performance we needed from the car," Hulkenberg said. "The changes we made took us in a good direction and made the difference today.
"During qualifying the car just got better and better, and I think the track improvement came towards us as well. All of my laps were clean and tidy, and I’m happy with our performance. Hopefully [the race] will be a similar story because I think we can come away with some good points.
"It’s true that the cars directly behind me have a free choice of tyres, but I’m happy with where I’m starting because it’s always better to be further up the grid."
REPORT: Hamilton pips Rosberg to Bahrain pole by 0.077s
AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying
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