Hulkenberg concerned by ‘bigger gap’ to rivals despite ‘trouble-free’ Qualifying in Hungary

Nico Hulkenberg was left with mixed emotions after he qualified P10 for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Audi driver cautious of the deficit to his midfield competitors in the “trouble-free” session.

As one of four drivers on the grid yet to score a point this season, Hulkenberg’s Q3 appearance at the Hungaroring has put him in a strong position to change that, especially as overtaking can be tricky at the track.

His final time of 1m 18.686s was marginally slower than his Q2 effort and around four-tenths adrift of Arvid Lindblad’s lap, which earned the Racing Bulls driver P9 on the grid.

Reflecting on the session, Hullkenberg said: “Pretty much it was trouble-free. It’s nice for once to have a clean one. I feel like we maximised it. Very positive to be in Q3.

“I’m not so happy about the distance, the gap to P9, and then from P9 actually to P8 and then onwards again.

“It’s bigger than what we thought and expected but I feel we maximised what we had, so that’s all we can do.”

The deficit increased to 0.830s when compared to Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in P8, but Audi’s more pressing contest is with midfield teams like Alpine, Racing Bulls, and Haas.

While they have been consistently in the mix across recent rounds, with both Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto getting stuck into close battles with their rivals, they’ve got a significant disadvantage in the standings having only scored 10 points so far.

The Belgian Grand Prix marked the first time that Audi finished a race as ‘best of the rest’ with Bortoleto finishing P8, and Hulkenberg is optimistic that they can compete for that title once again this weekend.

Asked whether they can take the fight to Racing Bulls in the Hungarian Grand Prix, he replied: “I think so. I think over a race distance or in the long runs, we should be competitive. I think we can challenge them.”