Nico Hulkenberg admits ‘human and technical error’ had held Renault back before their strong weekend in Canada.
2019 has been a tough year for the French manufacturer, who had ambitions of positioning themselves between the midfield and the top three teams in the pecking order.
Sitting eighth in the Constructors’ standings, their situation changed dramatically in Montreal as Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth with Hulkenberg seventh.
And now just two points behind McLaren in the battle for fourth place, the German hopes the momentum can be sustained.
“Hard work always pays off,” Nico declared. “It was good to see such a strong team effort and a solid result at the end.
“We’ve underachieved at previous races but we’ve always had the potential for good results and we haven’t scored points.
“Finally, we had a smooth and clean weekend to get points on the board. It’s hopefully a turning point in our season.”
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Further bolstering Renault’s confidence ahead of their home race is the biggest upgrade package of the year so far which will be taken to the French GP.
This as a result of the team clearing a backlog in production which also contributed to their poor start to the year.
“I’m excited for those [upgrades] and hopefully they will add performance to the car to help us close the gap to the front teams,” Hulkenberg commented.
“We have a good package; the car is performing consistently and I’m feeling optimistic for Paul Ricard.
“I feel the car always had this potential, but just human error, technical error, often we started really far at the back – and on circuits where you can’t overtake, so it was difficult to recover.
“It is rewarding and satisfying to finally put the car where it belongs and take these points.”
