Bad day at the office for Hulkenberg

23/09/2012

Mat Coch writes:

Having started eleventh after missing the final phase of qualifying by just three hundedths of a second, Nico Hulkenberg was hopeful his weekend would improve.

The German was furious with himself at missing the cut, and it looked early on in Sunday's race that he'd make amends for his faux pas. However, despite the car's potential, or perhaps because of it, the Force India driver remained frustrated that he was mired in the midfield battled throughout the Singapore race.

"We chose another risky strategy going into this race," he explained. "Safety cars would have been okay for us but as they were they were totally in the wrong point and position which made it really bad."

Hulkenberg spent much of the race tucked up behind Mark Webber and there were moments when the German was clearly on the very ragged edge, notably when attacked by Sergio Perez.

"There were many times when he was trying but I was always braking a bit on the inside to close the door and one lap he thought 'you know just be brave enough', and he did, but I also didn't back off and there was a small contact.

"I don't know whether there was any damage to my car," he added. "I couldn't see it; I couldn't feel anything; the car felt still okay."

A late pitstop, a result of contact with Kamui Kobayashi, ended Hulkenberg's hopes of taking much away from the race. "It was a positive day for Paul and the team," he said of teammate di Resta's fourth place finish, "but for me a pretty bad day."

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