Nico Hülkenberg arguably had the drive of the race as he finished P5 in the F1 Spanish GP on Sunday afternoon for Sauber.
Starting 15th, the German made up four spots on the first lap despite a trip through the escape zone at turn 2. After a big battle between Hadjar and Alonso on the first lap, he took advantage of that by passing the Spaniard into turn 1 at the beginning of the second tour.
Hülkenberg ran a mammoth 36-lap on mediums after boxing on lap 9 and got himself in front of Gasly. A P9 finish looked on the cards until it all kicked off in the closing stages. Antonelli retired with an engine issue, triggering a Safety Car.
From there Hülkenberg had a new set of softs to use as he got knocked out in Q1. It allowed him to pass Isack Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages. A penalty for Max Verstappen saw him end up in 5th.
Hülkenberg hails F1 Spanish GP upgrades brought by Sauber after superb performance
Sauber brought updates to the C45 for the Spanish GP, and it was clear they made a step. Gabriel Bortoleto was very strong in Q2 as he ended up P12 on the grid. In the race itself it was Hülkenberg who led the way. He did it in style.
Strategy and pit stops along with good pace contributed to a huge haul of 10 points for the team.
“It was a great race.
“Just one of them races where everything seem to click and to work out. Beautiful when it happens, it doesn’t happen that often, unfortunately, but today it did.
“Having all these new [soft] tyres, being out in Q1 was really useful and helpful today.
“And then from 15th to have the start from lap one that I had kind of immediately reset the race and then put us into the fight for a good result.
“Obviously the late Safety Car and then having another set of softs did the rest of it. So, very happy and obviously we take that.
“But that’s just if you bring updates and performance that works, you can help yourself.”
How it almost went wrong at turn 1
Down at turn 1 Nico Hülkenberg had to take to the escape road because of a chain reaction. Liam Lawson’s left front tyre clipped Alonso’s right rear tyre, setting off a chain of events as Albon ended up with wing damage, and Hülkenberg had to quickly turn out of the corner to avoid a big hit from the Thai.
“Yeah, I don’t know, there was a car coming, sliding across, so both Gabby and I had to avoid turn two and avoid some car, I’m not sure who it was.
“Yeah, then had a bit of a little fight with Fernando also, but wrestled him down in the end. And yeah, that was good.”
Nico Hülkenberg on passing Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap of the F1 Spanish GP
With two laps remaining, Nico Hülkenberg overtook Lewis Hamilton with DRS on the run down to turn 1. Although he did not know that the Brit was managing a car issue at the time, Hülkenberg explained why he felt it was possible for a Sauber to overtake a Ferrari on merit.
“Well, he was on used, he only had used softs left, and that’s where you see, even though he’s in a Ferrari, how important and how powerful the tyres are.
“He was just sliding around a lot and I had new boots which made all the difference, to be honest.”
