German GP | Renault drivers have never seen such a tight midfield battle
On the Hockenheim Saturday there has been one of the closest midfield packs Formula 1 has ever witnessed. Under the qualifying spotlight of course we found Ferrari's disaster, but in the background a ruthless Q2 session was taking place. Between Nico Hulkenberg's P8 and Daniel Ricciardo's P13 the gap was down to a stunningly small 0.033 second margin.
Such a small margin has obviously been one of the most discussed topics among the Renault drivers.
"I have never seen something that tight -decleares Nico Hulkenberg- It was amazing. [In the car] You don't see where you are compared to the others, you just have a feeling on how good your lap was and if you have left something on the table or not. In the Q2 in-lap I saw I was eight and Daniel 13th and I thought 'that's good, a nice gap' and then I saw the actual gaps and I was like 'Oh sh*t!'. That was like a bee-stick, quite incredible!"
About the Q3 Hulkenberg is not fully satisfy: "Being ninth when all the pack is so close is disappointing. I've had some trubbles on the last lap, I didn't put it together, so we missed an opportunuty there."
"The positive I take from qualy is that the car was certainly better than yesterday and this morning, so we should have a decent car for the race -a half-disapponited Ricciardo states- Since we have a free tyre choice, I hope tomorrow won't be too cold, otherwise the soft compound [on the cars in front] will have an easier life."
With such tight margins, is your placement down to luck? "I have two sayings about luck: 'luck is for losers' and 'f**k luck'-laughes the Honey Badger- No, I'll be more critical to myself and say I could have done better in a couple of corners."
https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/12229/german-gp-a-cooler-red-bull-at-hockenheim-s-qualifying
About the chances of rain, the #27 says: "I'm open to all the conditions. Wet is always tricky but some mixed conditions at some point in the race might be interesting."
Meanwhile, Ricciardo has a word on the incoming summerbreak: "I will party hard and try to get back for Singapour -the Aussie jokes- Seriously, I will spend some time with my family and friends. Having a summer break is not vital for us, we would survive without one, but it's very good to reset your mind and also to reflect on the first half of the season. And that's something you're not able to do in-between racing weekends, in particular with so many back-to-backs."
🎙 “It’s a mixed field ahead of us, but for now, we’ll take it on the chin and figure it out.”
— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) July 27, 2019
Daniel Ricciardo - #GermanGP, Saturday 👇
Full report 👉 https://t.co/Y15ad8tw7z#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/OAhZNLDxjx
