The contrast between garages inside one team was no larger than it was at Renault after the British Grand Prix, with Nico Hulkenberg was unfortunate to finish sixth while Jolyon Palmer failed to start his home race.
The German enjoyed a strong weekend overall, starting and comfortably crossing the finish line as the fastest midfield car, however, a slight tinge of disappointed was added as an energy harvesting issue cost him the chance to hold off Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull for fifth in the closing laps.
“I lost some engine power or deployment right in the last couple of laps when Daniel was closing in and attacking me,” Hulkenberg explained.
“I lost power and straight line speed, so that was a bit unfortunate. Perhaps otherwise I could have held onto fifth place. It is what it is and we should be happy with what we’ve done.”
Sixth place does still equal the best result by the 29-year-old this season as he remains the sole points scorer for the French manufacturer with 26 points.
Revealing what the key was to the better performance, he said: “This weekend it was the floor, it was definitely a big step forward for us.
“This high-speed nature of track suits the car a lot more. I feel very comfortable and confident around here usually so I think the combination allowed for a very decent result. Therefore eight points were well deserved and everyone happy.
“I am delighted. Barcelona was also P6 but it was a lucky one because everybody crashed out of my way, but here today we did it on merit. We had good pace, the team did a great job all weekend long. A good team effort and we got rewarded for it.”
Compare that to teammate Jolyon Palmer who suffered another in a long list of mechanical failures this year as a hydraulics problem on the Hangar Straight during the formation lap ending his race before it started.
“I’m gutted,” the former GP2 champion said. “Second best qualifying of the year, starting just outside of the points, we had really good race pace this weekend as well. The car was working well. It was the race to have a great shot at getting those points but it’s another problem. Nothing else to say really, just gutted. It was a hydraulic leak on the formation lap.”
