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Hulkenberg: Renault has a lot of work to do

Hulkenberg: Renault has a lot of work to do

26-03-2019 10:30
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Jake Williams-Smith

Nico Hulkenberg says Renault has work to do after an up and down weekend in Melbourne. The German finished seventh while new teammate Daniel Ricciardo was forced to retire from his home event.

Despite scoring points, Renault missed out on Q3 with both cars while customer team McLaren managed to get one of their drivers into the shootout session, Lando Norris' performance a highlight of the opening weekend.

"On a whole we’re happy to take home a handful of points from the first race," Hulkenberg said of the opening race of the season.

"It was an up and down kind of weekend. We missed out on some running on Friday and when we hit the track, our short run and long run pace looked quite decent. Without the problem in Q2, we probably would have made Q3. The race was positive after having a good getaway off the line.

"I raced hard from there, and it was largely a smooth run until the final few laps where it was about getting my head down, elbows out and defending the position. There’s a lot more work we can do to improve.

"We know that, and we have to keep the developments coming if we’re to edge away from the midfield group. We can be content with our performance in Melbourne, but I’m keen for more in Bahrain.