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Late engine issue denies Hulkenburg fair fight against Ricciardo

Nico Hulkenberg says Renault can't be too disappointed about missing out on its best result since returning to F1 last year after suffering a late engine power issue which left him unable to resist Daniel Ricciardo's late charge at Silverstone.

After qualifying an impressive sixth for the British Grand Prix, before being promoted to fifth on the grid due to Valtteri Bottas's gearbox penalty, Hulkenberg held station ahead of the Force India duo at the front of the midfield fight.

Despite his best efforts, the German driver was eventually caught by Ricciardo with two laps from the finish but did profit from Sebastian Vettel's late tyre puncture to take sixth place to match his best result of the year.

After the race Hulkenberg says a late power deployment problem on the final few laps meant he was unable to fight off the charging Red Bull, but insists Renault shouldn't feel too downhearted having led the midfield scrap from start to finish at Silverstone.

"I lost some engine power or deployment right in the last couple of laps when Daniel was closing in and attacking me," Hulkenberg said. "I lost power and straight line speed, so that was a bit unfortunate. Perhaps otherwise I could have held onto fifth place. It is what it is and we should be happy with what we've done."

Hulkenberg feels his sixth place at the British Grand Prix is worth more than the same result he produced in the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the season having secured it on pure race pace. The German driver ran a new floor on his RS17 at Silverstone which he feels gave Renault a vital edge at the high-speed circuit.

"Barcelona was also P6 but it was like a lucky one because everybody crashed out of my way, but here today we did it on merit," he said. "We had good pace, the team did a great job all weekend long. The floor was definitely a big step forward for us. This high-speed nature of track suits the car a lot more. I feel very comfortable and confident around here usually so I think the combination allowed for a very decent result."

Hulkenberg has leapfrogged both Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll in the Formula 1 world drivers' championship to move up to 10th, while his sixth place saw Renault close to within three points on Haas in the fight for seventh place in the F1 world constructors' standings.

Zdroj: crash.net