“Clearly, you’re at all times going off your references – final yr and customarily the previous,” he explains. “Now we have what now we have proper now. There are some good and never so good issues [about the car], so it’s nearly taking a look at every part.
“It’s actually a familiarisation section, getting linked to the automotive and attending to grips with it. It’s a brand new automotive, a brand new group, and that at all times takes a while, effort and work – very detailed work – that doesn’t occur in a single day. You possibly can’t do it in idea, it’s important to be on the market driving, and we’ve began that course of.
“Are we going to stroll out of the primary few races with a smile or with a little bit of a [frown]? That’s to be seen. For now, it’s essential that we focus, work arduous on the issues that we will affect, and simply maximise the alternatives and our potential.”
Because it transpired, Hulkenberg and Kick Sauber left the season opener in Australia a few weeks later with big smiles on their faces – having accomplished precisely what he stated above due to a composed, well-executed race in combined climate circumstances.
Exiting on the Q1 stage in a dry Qualifying session may need proven {that a} vital problem lay forward of Sauber in the event that they had been to climb again up the midfield order and turn out to be common factors scorers once more, however when the heavens opened on race day, Hulkenberg and his new group had been able to pounce.
