Nico Hulkenberg was the first of the Renault drivers to sample the RS18 on the opening day of the first Formula 1 preseason test at Circuit de Catalunya on Monday, with a day off on Tuesday the German reflected on a positive day for him in the cockpit.
Hulkenberg told reporters at the end of the day, “First impressions are positive to be honest. Especially if you compare to 12 months ago how the first morning went and how it went today, it’s a huge difference.
“We’ve made a lot of progress. The car ran really well, was reliable and we really got through every single detail on the program which is really unusual for the first day! I’ve not experienced that so many times. So it was a good job and a credit to our guys that prepared really well.
“In terms of the feel of the car, like I said I felt quite good straight away. The big thing though is the resurfacing of the track here has quite a big impact. It’s much smoother and quite a high grip surface I think so that changed the picture of the Barcelona track, in general, a lot by itself. Therefore it’s kind of harder to compare back to last year, but I think the starting point was definitely OK today.”
Hulkenberg, who is starting his second year with the team, explained, “The team has grown a lot. Crazy a lot. If you see, in every aspect really, the infrastructure in Enstone, the amount of people that are working there now, you just see the investment that is going on in every corner."
"It’s good, it needs to be that way, but you definitely see that there’s a lot of progress going on," added the German.
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