Hulkenberg: We're pushing for a double points finish!

Nico Hulkenberg believes himself and Renault F1 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo are "pushing" for a double points finish after a solid qualifying session in China.

Hulkenberg will start Sunday's China Grand Prix in eighth-place, with his colleage Ricciardo a place in-front of him on the grid. After the disaster in Bahrain, that saw a double-DNF for the French-works team, the German driver described Saturday's qualifying result as "really good".

"It's a really good team result," Hulkenberg said. "The car has been feeling good and performing well all weekend, and we had a smooth qualifying today. We managed to get into Q2 on just one run, which is pleasing.

"I was happy with all of my laps, we knew it would be close and it shaped out to be that way. The important thing is the team result and we can race strong from there. Our long-run pace yesterday was competitive, the package feels good and we'll be pushing for a double points finish."

Ricciardo echoed the Hulk's thoughts, saying Renault will be aiming to keep hold of seventh and eighth, and perhaps push on and look ahead to Pierre Gasly in P6.

"This midfield battle is so tight and your weekend can change within one or two tenths of a second, so it's pleasing to be at the head of that midfield battle," Ricciardo continued. 

"My Q3 was actually a little bit messy in the final sector, so I was happy to hear we had finished seventh. Tomorrow, we'll realistically like to hold onto the top seven and see if we can go after sixth."