Spa, the best race in Hülkenberg

Starting in eleventh position on the starting grid for the Belgian GP, Nico Hulkenberg probably didn't expect to finish just off the podium yesterday afternoon. The Force India driver climbed into second place after achieving a superb takeoff while avoiding being caught in the pileup caused by Romain Grosjean (Lotus) which left several contenders for victory in the lurch. The German fought tooth and nail to stay in the leading group and managed to cross the finish line in fourth place. With the top ten of his teammate Paul di Resta deprived of DRS, the Indian team takes seventh place in the Constructors' Championship at Williams and is 21 points behind Sauber, the big loser this weekend.

“I am delighted with this result, it is my best result in F1 », declares Nico Hülkenberg, who had already achieved a fifth place this year at the European GP. “The team worked hard to achieve this result and I would like to send my thanks to the whole team because everything worked perfectly. I smile because this is exactly the result we needed in our fight for the Championship. The start was hectic but I was able to avoid the debris and take advantage of the situation. I had managed to occupy second place and I hoped to finish on the podium. However, the race was difficult. I had some great fights with Kimi (Räikkönen) and Michael (Schumacher) while constantly being on the limit. »

Discover the analysis of the Belgian Grand Prix in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.