Nico Hulkenberg believes that starting on intermediate tyres for the Canadian Grand Prix was “a risk worth taking”, despite the fact he and Audi team mate Gabriel Bortoleto missed out on the points.
With light rain falling and potentially more on the way, the drivers and teams were left in a tricky situation just minutes before the start of Sunday’s 68-lap race in Montreal.
Most drivers elected to start with a slick tyre, but notably both McLaren, Cadillac and Audi cars, as well as Carlos Sainz, were fitted with intermediate tyres on the grid.
The decision backfired as the rain eased and the track dried, forcing all seven drivers to visit the pits in the opening laps, with Hulkenberg and Bortoleto unable to recover the positions and time lost.
“It was a challenging race for us. Looking back, the conditions at the start evolved differently from what we expected,” said Hulkenberg, who finished P12 after starting P11.
“It was a risk worth taking with what we knew at the time, but in the end the opening phase didn’t really play out in our favour and that put us on the back foot quite early.
“Even after that, we didn’t quite have the pace to recover in the way we wanted. Others around us managed to move forward more quickly, so there are definitely things for us to understand and improve there as well. Overall, it’s been a demanding weekend with a lot to review.”
Bortoleto had started P13 and was classified in the same position after being handed a five-second penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement.
The result means Audi still sit P9 in the Conscturctors’ standings, with Bortoleto’s P9 from the opening round in Australia the only points finish for the F1 newcomers so far this year.
“We started on the intermediate tyres because we felt it could pay off, but the rain stopped pretty quickly and that ended up putting us on the back foot,” said Bortoleto.
“The extra stop dropped us out of contention, and from there it became a race in free air, mainly focused on managing our own pace. Still, as a positive to take from today, we brought both cars home and collected important data for the team.”
