Nico Hulkenberg downplayed Renault’s prospects despite setting the fifth-fastest time in second practice, ahead of both Red Bull drivers.
“If a Friday is good I’m not one of those guys who reads into it too much,” said Hulkenberg. “I think other people didn’t reach their full potential today.Hulkenberg ended Friday’s practice session a tenth of a second off Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes and fifth-hundredths ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. However he said he isn’t happy with the valance of his RS19.
“Obviously the time sheet looks good, the long run times look OK. But the feeling wasn’t that great in the car to be honest.
“We still were far off with the balance in my opinion. We need to keep working and keep finding some harmony and lap time.”
Hulkenberg’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo had a difficult second session, ending up 15th, but Hulkenberg also doesn’t believe this is representative.
“I think Daniel had – I don’t know exactly, I don’t think he had the best of laps and had a bit of a struggle this afternoon. So don’t read too much into it.
“I think it was an OK Friday. We got everything done that we needed to do. Long runs, short runs, got the information on the compounds as usual, that’s important. So now we need to improve on everything for tomorrow and Sunday.”
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Prarag Chopra (@prarag-chopra)
30th March 2019, 0:50
Good start to the weekend for the Hulk! Hope Renault can carry the same form into qualifying and race
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
30th March 2019, 1:17
“fifth-hundredths” is this proper english? RBR not looking that strong. Gasly not performing, same as Ricciardo who is performing well below expectations and needs to get his act together. Ferrari looking strong although I’m sure Mercedes sand bagging yet again. Nice job by the hulk and I hope Renault become a serious challenge this year.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
30th March 2019, 5:21
I suspect nearly all drivers are “sandbagging” to some degree. The first real guide to how good driver + car are is at Qualifying.