Nico Hulkenberg has set out the goal of repeating his “promising” Friday efficiency on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix throughout Saturday’s Qualifying, with the Kick Sauber driver ending each observe classes in fifth place.
Whereas an early crash final weekend in Qatar noticed his current factors run come to an finish, Hulkenberg seemed on the tempo because the opening day of observe motion obtained underway on the Yas Marina Circuit.
The German and crew mate Gabriel Bortoleto positioned in P5 and P7 respectively throughout Free Practice 1 – a session during which many different groups opted to run a rookie driver – whereas the second practice hour noticed Hulkenberg repeat his outcome and Bortoleto go one higher to take P6.
When requested afterwards if the automotive may need the identical sort of tempo for Qualifying on Saturday, Hulkenberg responded: “I hope so – that’s the goal and the ambition, to hold onto it.
“Clearly many drivers didn’t get the FP1 session, so I’m certain they’ll have a bit extra of a studying curve than us in a single day, however issues felt promising. I believe the baseline efficiency and the stability of the automotive are in a great place, and we had a clear, easy day in order that was constructive.”
By way of whether or not the squad’s sturdy efficiency had come as a shock to them, the 38-year-old stated: “Perhaps barely stunning – clearly there’s a bit extra low-speed content material, which I believe is just not so unhealthy for our automotive, however you by no means know till you run.
“It’s good to be fast on Friday, but it surely’s extra vital to have it tomorrow when it issues.”
Bortoleto equally acknowledged that having good tempo on a Friday doesn’t essentially imply it would proceed all through the remainder of the weekend, however the Brazilian nonetheless voiced his confidence for the crew’s prospects on Saturday.
“It’s simply Free Observe,” he commented after the session. “I believe there are quite a lot of issues nonetheless to occur.
“Clearly it’s constructive to be so aggressive in FP1 and FP2, have an excellent tempo, so I’m assured for tomorrow. However once more, it’s simply FP, there are lots of people round which are additionally fast and super-close, so it’s not going to be simple however hopefully we put an excellent efficiency tomorrow.”
With Kick Sauber nonetheless within the combat for eighth place of the Teams’ Championship – the squad presently sitting in P9, solely 5 factors adrift of Haas – Bortoleto admitted that Qualifying might be essential by way of whether or not each he and Hulkenberg can declare some useful factors on Sunday.
“I hope each of the automobiles are in an excellent place tomorrow for Quali as a result of it’s going to be crucial for us [to have] an excellent beginning place on Sunday, to attempt to rating factors and catch the automobiles forward of us,” the 21-year-old conceded.
