Despite only slotting in two days of testing before heading to Melbourne, Force India's VJM08 proved to be reliable out of the box; a crucial factor when your ultimate objective is to chase performance rather than chasing your tail – as Red Bull can attest.
Sandwiched in the running order between Felipe Nasr's Sauber and Grosjean's Lotus in FP2, Nico knows there is still some aerodynamic work to be done and is deep in thought as I probe him a little about Force India's winter testing programme before we get doen to the serious business of a little brand called Porsche and some race called Le Mans...
Trent Price: Despite a late start to testing, Force India had a relatively trouble-free programme at Jerez. Did you manage to find a decent baseline understanding of the car so you won’t have to adapt your practice schedule?
Nico Hulkenberg: It’s pretty much as you say. We had no issues out of the box which has allowed us to work on set-up and performance right away. Obviously more time in the car is always good, but I don’t think we’d necessarily be much stronger if we’d had three or four more days. We worked efficiently with the time we had so we’re quite well prepared.
TP: Do you think with the Renault powered cars experiencing difficulties that it will give you an opportunity to steal a march on them?
NH: Yes, absolutely. It’s good that you don’t have these little issues to sort through.
TP: You had pretty cold conditions in Spain. The temperature this weekend is going to fluctuate quite a bit, plus when the sun
does come out the temperature rises dramatically. Can you react quickly to these changes with a better baseline set-up?
NH: Track and ambient temperature was low [in Spain] but we usually have a good idea what happens when the track temperature goes up. You’ve just got to react to it.
TP: You had a really strong year in 2014 with ten point-scoring positions and a number of top 5 finishes – Monaco in particular being a stand out. Did you see much of a change in yourself in terms of consistency in relation to previous years?
NH: I think for me personally, last year was my best year to date in Formula 1. I was very consistent without many errors. You always learn, you always progress. I’m not a perfect driver, so I’ll try to go one step better this year by maximizing what we have all the time every lap, every corner.
TP: The Pirelli rear tyre has a better footprint than it did last year, but in the past the tyres have marginalized good mid-field drivers. Do you think the last few years have masked talent?
NH: It’s the same for everyone. The guy’s at the front have a higher baseline which makes it easier, but with the Pirelli’s you have to manage quite a lot sometimes and drive within yourself, but that’s a different kind of challenge to adapt to that.
Everything is so marginal in terms of getting a good result. With a top car you can make a small error and still be at the front, whereas for us we have a smaller working window with no margin for error.
TP: One of the benefits of being in a mid-field team is having the opportunity to compete at Le Mans with Porsche. How important was running at Le Mans for you?
NH: It wasn’t important but it was a great opportunity that I’m looking forward to.
TP: The F1 season is so long now that there aren’t many opportunities for drivers to jump into different categories and something we really haven’t seen since the 1970’s. Le Mans is almost the entire F1 season in length, does it require special preparation from you?
NH: Not really. The first seven months of this year are very busy for me with a lot of travelling – including the Porsche test. I thought about it last year before I committed to it and wouldn’t have done so if I thought it would compromise me in any way. I just see it as a great challenge and a great opportunity. The chance to race with the Porsche brand at the most prestigious race in the world doesn’t come across every day, so I grabbed it while I had it.
TP: How did you find driving the 919 Hybrid at night?