Audi driver Nico Hülkenberg didn’t have the happiest possible Silverstone race at the F1 British GP. In fact, the German driver retired on Lap 39 due to technical issues. While it definitely worsened, the Audi driver’s day hadn’t gotten off to a good start either.
A difficult F1 British GP for Hülkenberg
In fact, already on the first lap the former Aston Martin man had found himself forced to concede track positions, struggling with the start once again.
Hülkenberg commented his British GP performance after the end of the F1 race, which he had started from P12, right next to his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, following Alpine’s Gasly three places grid penalty.
He praised the performance of the younger talent, while remarking the hardships encountered by both.
“Yeah, I think both cars didn’t have the best of starts, but he then had a better lap one, I think, but we need to review still a bit. For me, the start was not good again. Already on the laps to the grid, something was off today and felt quite different to yesterday than usual.
“So yeah, I don’t know, I think there’s still something that we’re not really on top of. Needs further attention I think.”
The pivotal moment in Silverstone
The German proceeded with recounting the following laps of his British race, mentioning his issues with tyre management.
In fact, early on he had been forced to push hard to reclaim positions, forcing him into a two-stop.
“I was behind, and I had to push early on, spent a lot of time in dirty air. So my tyres were suffering, and that was the way we had to play it.”
The turning point of his race was at round Lap 34, as he begun to experience issues right before his second and final pit stop of the race. Hülkenberg at that time began to experience technical issues right as he dove into the pits, as he went on to explain.
“I had an issue coming into the attacking for braking for the pit entry. Gearbox went to neutral, and then I had to actually pull over and stop to get the gear again, and probably they are related.”
Ultimately, the Audi F1 driver is ready to take on a new challenge in the upcoming week. In the aftermath of the British GP, Nico Hülkenberg also discussed the Spa F1 round and the energy management headache ahead.
“It’s going to be probably tough and interesting on the energy side. A lot of straights, a lot of long straights, high speeds. So yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.”
