Nico Hulkenberg says it is likely that he could’ve beaten both Aston Martin cars in the F1 Sprint from Austria if he had pitted for slick tyres earlier.
Saturday’s race began in wet conditions, with Intermediate tyres in use throughout the grid.
Hulkenberg started from fourth but rose to second place by the end of the first lap.
However, as his tyres began to degrade, he was reeled in by the chasing pack with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz moving in front of him.
On lap 16, Mercedes’ George Russell became the first driver to pit for slick tyres and Hulkenberg soon followed suit.
Hulkenberg recovered to sixth place to score valuable points for Haas, and was rapidly closing in on Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, who crossed the line just in front of the German having opted to stay out on Intermediates.
When asked if pitting one lap earlier would’ve rewarded him with a fourth-place finish, Hulkenberg said: “Probably, yes.
“We didn’t really expect to have points in the sprint race coming here. So, happy to have more points on the board.
“[It] was a fun race with mixed conditions again. Just a good job, I think, from team and myself, we pulled it off and rewarded ourselves.”
Haas has showcased strong qualifying pace but disappointing race form on multiple occasions this year, a situation that it is attempting to resolve.
Hulkenberg says that he knew that he was going to come under pressure from behind during the sprint race, suggesting it made the decision to gamble through the pit stop easier.
“I knew that at one point, you know, I’m going to get more heat from behind,” he said. “It wasn’t raining. The track was drying up.
“And probably I can feel it earlier than, you know, what you can see on the TV which direction it’s going. So I knew it’s going to be a tough one to keep there.
“We were opportunistic and, you know, we made it stick, and that’s why we have a good result now.
“If it’s on merit, I wouldn’t say that yet. We know in qualifying, you know, we have been strong – that’s not our problem.
“It’s the race [where we struggle]. So, I wouldn’t take today as a measure for that.”
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