Hulkenberg was hoping for better, looking for strong race

Like for the majority of his colleagues, today's tricky qualifying was a handful for Nico Hulkenberg but the German negotiated the disrupted session fairly well, and will launch his race from 9th on tomorrow's grid.

While satisfied to have accessed the top Q3 segment, Hulkenberg believes his final result good have been better.

"As a team I think we coped well with so many red flags because it’s important to stay calm and maintain your rhythm.

"I think getting to Q3 was really good but then being there was not as good as I would have hoped for," he explained.

"I'm not disappointed but I think I was hoping for a bit more. By the end the track was fully dry so it was back to the normal usual pecking order I would say.

The German complained of a lack of balance affecting his runs in last installment of qualifying, and believes that on merit he should have been able to challenge for Sainz's P6.

"Yeah ideally we would have liked to beat him and the McLarens so those three are really the ones ideally we would be in front of, but now we're behind and we need to try and race them tomorrow.

"The balance just went away from us a bit in Q3 so a bit unsatisfied about that. I struggled with understeer on my final lap.

"So from that perspective maybe it would have been better if the track had stayed wet for longer. Ninth place is still a good place to start and I’m sure we can have a strong race from there."

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