Nico Hulkenberg says tyre degradation hindered his performance in 2012 German GP – Formula 1 news
Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg has said that he faced tyre degradation issue in 2012 German Grand Prix which hindered his performance in the race and he could only secure 9th place finish.
Hulkenberg showed an impressive pace in the qualifying of the German GP, however, he struggled with the problem of tyre management and could only came 9th in the timesheets after starting the race from the 4th grid position.
The German driver said that he had a good start and targeted to attain competitive result in his home race. Conversely, he suffered with the issue of tyre wear-out which eventually caused him to take three pit stops. Resultantly, he lost some crucial time
and could only score 2 points in the end. Nevertheless, he asserted that he is focussing to perform well in the season ahead.
“We always knew it was going to be tough to hang on to fourth place because we did not look especially strong in dry conditions on Saturday morning,” he said. “But when you're in that position you hope for the best and actually first part of the race was
strong for me and I had some good battles. In terms of strategy, doing three stops was the way forward because two-stop race was not possible with way tyres were degrading. So it's good to come away with some points but I was certainly hoping for a bit more
from my home race.”
On the other hand, the team principal of Force India, Vijay Mallya said that although they were hoping to achieve better results in Hockenheim, nonetheless, he said that they are feeling contended with the performance of their drivers and are positively
looking forward to bounce back in the Hungarian GP.
At present, the Silverstone based team is presently standing at 8th place in the constructors’ championship with 46 points. Besides, they are ahead of Toro Rosso and are behind their main rival, Williams.
Over and above, they are trying their best to keep on making the significant progress to enhance their car’s pace in order to secure a good position in this year’s championship fight.
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