Nico Hulkenberg believes he drove one of his best races ever after he equalled his best finishing position of fourth, allowing him to jump up to 11th in the championship table.
The German gained several places at the start and then defended for almost the entirety of the race to keep Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton behind him.
He described the pressure as ‘annoying’ but was relieved to finish the race ahead of them.
“It was almost the perfect race for us, we put everything together and we grabbed the opportunities,” he said after. “Today I drove one of the best races in my career so far.
“I have had cars in the mirrors before, but today there were a lot and it was a bit annoying. Lewis really put the pressure on at the end, especially in the last sector. I knew I needed to get out of turn one well. The car’s traction was very good today, so that kept me alive against Fernando and then Lewis later on. We were also very fast on the straight.”
He went on to praise his team for taking the chances when they presented themselves.
“I’m proud of myself, the team, the boys; everybody did a fantastic job this weekend. It was really a great team effort, even yesterday with both cars in the top ten which was a great success and obviously today was very unexpected again. I think we outperformed quite a few cars that should have been in front and probably punched above our weight but when the opportunity is there you have to grab it and I think that’s what we did today.”
