Hulkenberg reveals key strategy choice behind ‘outstanding’ Sao Paulo Grand Prix drive

Nico Hulkenberg praised the gamble to run a one-stop strategy at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which aided his recovery to a points-scoring finish.

Hulkenberg’s ninth-place finish in Brazil marked his second top-10 result in three weekends.

Having dropped places at the start, the German found himself stuck behind Alex Albon’s Williams, but the Sauber pit wall stuck to its guns, sticking with its one-stop plan in a bid to recover lost ground.

Bringing home two points while Albon took the flag in 11th after pitting twice, the gamble paid off.

“It was a decent race,” said Hulkenberg. “Lap 1 was sub-optimal – I lost a couple of positions, and that was obviously difficult then to recover, because I was stuck behind Alex for quite a long time in the first stint.

“But we pulled off the successful one-stop, really stretched out the stint on the soft and had some good fun battling with the RBs [Racing Bulls] and some other guys, so it was good.

“But in the championship fight, we lost some ground to some competitors, which is not great, but it is what it is. Now, we reset, regroup, obviously a weekend off, and hopefully, a strong one in Vegas.”

Explaining Hulkenberg’s strategy, Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley said: “We pretty much stuck to our plan A with Nico. I'd like to look at the data again; I think we boxed him a little bit early onto the soft, which made our lives a little bit difficult at the end.

“But we did think he'd get through Liam [Lawson] a bit quicker than he did. But altogether an outstanding race from Nico, and I think the team read the tyres well. Nico drove a very measured race, brought the compounds in nicely, looked after the soft well; we thought we'd be P7 for a while, but there you go.”