Pressiteade
Nico made an excellent start from eleventh on the grid, rising to eighthon the opening lap before driving a conservative race to the flag in seventhplace, a repeat of the result recorded in Australia last season.
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, making his debut for the team at his homeGrand Prix, retired on lap 28 as a precaution following damage to the carsuffered during an unfortunate lap one incident. After making a bright startoff the line, Daniel lost his front wing after running wide on the mainstraight, forcing him into an early pit-stop for a front wing change. He wasconsequently forced to retire later in the race as a preventative measure.
• Nico started from P11 on Pirelli’s Soft (red) tyres, battling his wayto eighth on the opening lap. He inherited seventh after pitting for Hard(white) tyres on lap 13 and defended that position to the end.
• Daniel started from P12 on Soft tyres, pitting at the end of lap onefor a nose and front wing change, as well as Hard tyres. He retired on lap 28as a precaution for his lap one incident.
Nico Hülkenberg, startedP11, finished P7:
“It’s a good start to the season with some solid points on the board. Itwas a tricky race – especially the final 10 laps – I was under pressure andreally had to fight to hang onto seventh place. I’m pleased to pull that off.The start and the first lap made our race; it’s so crucial to have trackposition around here and from there it was about managing the car and thetyres. We can be pleased with today, it’s a positive result, but it also showswe have a lot of work ahead of us. We need to dig deep and continue findingperformance especially to improve the car balance.”
Daniel Ricciardo, startedP12, DNF:
“I’m gutted, that’s for sure. I made a good start, managed to get a goodrun on Perez and then moved to the side. I put a wheel on the grass, whichdidn’t concern me, and then a massive bump caught me by surprise. It’s unluckymore than anything and, unfortunately, that was our race run there and then. Itall happened very quickly and it was a shame we finished like that. Nico showedin the race that the car belongs in the top eight and we’ll be aiming for asmoother weekend in Bahrain and a strong result.”
Cyril Abiteboul, TeamPrincipal
“We’re leaving Australia with mixed feelings and a contrast of positiveand negatives. The main negative was Qualifying, where we had a number ofissues that impacted our potential and starting position. That made Daniel’sfirst race complex and we tried to recover positions at the start but weultimately had to retire his car due to the damage. Nico managed to turn aroundthe situation and had a very strong race. He was very smart and drove a goodrace to finish seventh. We know the car has much more pace than we have shown,especially in Qualifying, and it will be the priority of the next race toextract more from the initial platform with a smoother execution across theweekend while we work on our planned upgrades.”
