F1 News
Hulkenberg: I definitely could have made it into Q2 without crash
Jake Williams-Smith
Nico Hulkenberg believes his Renault was capable of making it into Q2 for the Spanish Grand Prix had it not been for his mistake in Q1.
The German driver dropped his R.S.19 on entry to turn four and was forced through the gravel to nudge his front wing off after minor contact with the barriers.
It meant he was forced to revert to a previous specification front wing and cost him time in the session, with his one and only run not good enough to make it out of the session.
Speaking to media afterwards, Hulkenberg admitted that a Q1 exit was an underperformance.
"I could have definitely got it into Q2," he admitted.
"It was not great obviously going off in the first run and I lost the new spec front wing as well so for the second run we had to revert back and the car felt quite different and I felt quite a loss of downforce so that definitely cost a bit of performance.
"I think otherwise, we would've made it into Q2 but there you go. You make mistakes you pay for it."
Renault teammate Daniel Ricciardo demonstrated just what the car was capable of, getting through to the final session of qualifying and will start the Spanish Grand Prix from 10th position.
