‘Nico Hulkenberg was rejected by top teams because he’s just so big’
Nico Hulkenberg impressed in F1 Bahrain Gra🥃nd💖 Prix qualifying
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nico Hulkenberg has b💞een the unsung hero of Thursday and Friday at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, prompting Damon Hill to share an intriguing back-story about him.
Hulkenberg qualified in🉐 10th, an unexpectedly good result for the Haas team which finished bottom of last year’s constructors’ championship.
Thei🍌r veteran German driver might be driving for a bigger team if his physical attributes were different, Hill has explai✃ned.
“In the past ꦍI’ve heard his name mentioned in some of the top teams,” Hill said on Sky Sports.
“൲He was rejected, basically, on the grounds that he’s just so big.
“He is carrying ꦯa disadvantage because he is a big lad.
“It’s weight from t🐓he waist up. You don’t want that in a racing car.
“For him to do wha𒀰t he does, shows that he has a lot o💦f talent.”
Haas have experienced a winter of upheaval a𝄹fter the shock exit of Guenther Steiner as team principal.
Steiner, in the Bahrain pad𝓀dock, insisted he was♈ happy to watch his former team overachieve.
“Absolutely, I am very happy for the guys, and for 🦋Nico,” he said.
“He is one of the best qualifiers, if not the🀅 best.
He just performs at that level.
“It’s good for the guys at Haas. The💛y work hard and they deserve it.”
Hulkenberg reflected on qualifying in 10th, just one place behind Lewis Hamilto꧅n: “Last year, qualy and one-lap pace was our strong point.
“In testing we hadn’t 💟done low-fuel performance runs. Yesterday was the f𒁏irst time.
“I could sense and feel that there was potential.
“We want to get rid of the bad Sunday trend fꦿrom lಌast year.
“It feels better from inside the car. Tomorrow is the first real te𝓀st in anger.
“We have fixed the car, the aerodynamics characteristic from last year which was really poor﷽, especially on long runs.
“There is a lot of learning going on, for tyre management, in th﷽e background.”
Naomi Schiff s꧟aid about Haas: “That was a really positiv🐻e performance.
“Kevin Magnusꦍsen didn’t have the same pace that Nico did.
“Nico has proven himself to b🍸e in🔥credibly good in qualifying.
“He’s put them in such a strong position by just getting them iꦿnto Q3.
“Keepi🔯ng one set of tyres for [Saturday] gives the𝔉m a good set of options against their competition.
“His competition is not the li𝓰kes of Hamilton, Sainz, Perez. It’s the other guys.”
James was a sღports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
