Renault and Nico Hulkenberg secured their second points-scoring finish of the 2017 Formula One Championship season after the young German driver put in a solid drive from eighth on the grid at the Sochi Autodrom.
Nico kept his nose clean at the start and then ran a mammoth 40-lap stint on his qualifying Ultrasort tyres before changing to the Supersoft tyres for a final 12-lap bid to wrestle seventh place from Esteban Ocon.
He was very happy with the outcome of the race and more than happy with the pace the car was displaying…
“I'm really happy with the strategy we ran today; there wasn't too much left from the tyres at the end of that first stint, but we achieved what we set out to do,” he said. “I lost track position at the start so we let everyone else pit ahead of us and went as long as we could go on the first set of boots."
"I kept pushing and the car performed really well, staying switched on with the track improvement meaning I was able to get faster and faster. I was definitely happier with our race pace today; we've still got more work to do but we've clearly taken a step in the right direction this weekend.”
