Hulkenberg: "The whole race was a learning curve for me"

Nico Hulkenberg can look back on a very crazy weekend. For example, on Saturday morning he was still quietly drinking coffee, while on Saturday afternoon he was suddenly summoned by Racing Point to replace the sick Lance Stroll.

Hulkenberg must have been shocked when he received the phone call from Otmar Szafnauer. The team boss at Racing Point had to hurriedly arrange another driver for qualifying and the race, as Lance Stroll was too sick to leave his hotel room. Luckily for Szafnauer, The Hulk is never too sick to help the team out, as he did earlier during the two races at Silverstone. Then it was Sergio Perez who had to be replaced because of an infection with the coronavirus.

A big learning session

After the race in which he finished in eighth place, it is clear that Hulkenberg cannot yet fully comprehend what has happened. "I still have to realise and process what has happened in the last 24 hours," he says to the Post Race Show. "Everything happened so fast, I didn't even have time to think. I just had to perform. I was just trying to keep the beginning clean. After that it was mainly a learning session during the race for me. Little by little it went better. That was the only thing I was doing.

"It also helped of course that some people dropped out, but of course I'm very happy to score points for the team. The hardest thing to learn was how to steer, they changed a lot compared to Silverstone. That takes time to get used to. With four laps in qualifying, you won't be able to do that. But fortunately, we managed to stay clear during the race."