Hulkenberg gives Force India home comfort

Nico Hulkenberg drove a battling race from 12th to eighth at Force India’s home race, a result which moves the Indian squad four points closer to Sauber in the battle for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

The German got away poorly but quickly recovered and by the end of the first lap had moved to ninth. When Sauber’s Sergio Pérez retired through damage following a puncture on lap eight, Hulkenberg rose to eighth, a position he was able to hold until the chequered flag.

"Grosjean was very close behind me and pushing hard but I didn’t crack under the pressure."
Nico Hulkenberg

“I’m very happy with the result today and I think eighth was about the maximum that was possible,” he said afterwards. “It was a great team performance and I’m feeling satisfied with what we achieved today. At the start I didn’t get the best getaway, but I had a good first lap and was able to overtake Rosberg on the back straight and Maldonado going into turn four.

“The middle part of the race was quite lonely for me because I was running in clean air, but towards the end Grosjean was very close behind me and pushing hard,” he said. “But I didn’t crack under the pressure, I kept him behind and we made the one-stop strategy work.”

Team Principal Vijay Mallya added that the result was an important for the team in the Constructors’ Championship.

“After qualifying we knew we had a big task ahead of us, but Nico rose to the challenge and raced well to finish in eighth place,” he said. “It’s a very satisfying result and it means we have scored points in the last six races – that’s every race since the summer break. These are important points for our fight in the constructors’ championship and we will continue to push very hard in the remaining three races.”