Nico Hulkenberg fears his P8 starting position may actually prove a disadvantage in Sunday’s Singapore GP.
The German inherits the position after his teammate Daniel Ricciardo was excluded from qualifying when his Renault MGU-K was found to be producing more than the allowed 161hp.
This came after Hulkenberg may have been seen to be fortunate to make the top 10 shootout, beating Sergio Perez by only 0.04s, but actually he was disappointed to sneak through.
“To be honest I was kind of trying to engineer an 11th place in Q2 but nobody wanted to go faster!” he told the official F1 website.
“That was a bit of a shame to be honest because I think that strategy could hold a lot of advantages tomorrow.”
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What Hulkenberg is referring to is the requirement of the top 10 drivers to all start on the soft compound tyres they used in Q2 while those from P11 down can opt for whatever they want.
That means those from Giovinazzi downwards can use the medium compound to extend their first stint, while Hulkenberg could be forced to pit early and fall back into traffic.
“The good news for us is that at least McLaren, our direct competitor, they’re on the same strategy,” he conceded. “But you know, I’ve been in that boat last year [where] you have to start on the soft and it was pretty difficult, let’s say, and the others had a much easier race.
“We’ll take it and deal with it tomorrow.”