“Clearly, you’re at all times going off your references – final 12 months and customarily the previous,” he explains. “Now we have what we’ve proper now. There are some good and never so good issues [about the car], so it’s nearly taking a look at every part.
“It’s actually a familiarisation section, getting linked to the automotive and attending to grips with it. It’s a brand new automotive, a brand new staff, and that at all times takes a while, effort and work – very detailed work – that doesn’t occur in a single day. You’ll be able to’t do it in concept, you must be on the market driving, and we’ve began that course of.
“Are we going to stroll out of the primary few races with a smile or with a little bit of a [frown]? That’s to be seen. For now, it’s vital that we focus, work laborious on the issues that we are able to affect, and simply maximise the alternatives and our potential.”
Because it transpired, Hulkenberg and Kick Sauber left the season opener in Australia a few weeks later with big smiles on their faces – having executed precisely what he mentioned above because of a composed, well-executed race in blended climate circumstances.
Exiting on the Q1 stage in a dry Qualifying session might need proven {that a} vital problem lay forward of Sauber in the event that they had been to climb again up the midfield order and turn into common factors scorers once more, however when the heavens opened on race day, Hulkenberg and his new staff had been able to pounce.
