Hülkenberg and Sainz race to best result of the season

Nico Hülkenberg finished sixth and Carlos Sainz took seventh for the Enstone team.

Both drivers made strong starts and ran to a one-stop strategy with the only cloud on an otherwise sunny day a five-second penalty for Sainz exceeding the track limits and being judged to have gained an advantage.

The result sees the team remain in fourth position in the FIA F1 Constructors’

Championship, now 22 points ahead of the fifth placed team.

Hülkenberg said: “We saw the best team result since I’ve been with Renault so I’m happy for that, it was a very good job from everyone involved with the team. We demonstrated that the race pace of our car is very decent and we’re still very competitive.

“It also illustrated how important it is to have a strong qualifying position and a clean first lap. Everything is still possible for us and we took a great bunch of points. It was a very satisfying feeling but we have three races left so we need to keep the good work coming.”

Sainz said: “In general I’m happy with how we finished the weekend. It was a very good result for the team, which is exactly what was needed. To finish sixth and seventh here gives us strong points so congratulations for a fantastic team effort.

“On my side, I did a great start and arrived in the first corner ahead of the three cars previously in front. I did run wide behind the Ferrari but re-joined the track safely, letting Esteban by. I then overtook him cleanly round the outside in turn six, so I still can’t understand the penalty.

“After that, it was all about tyre management and fuel saving. I’m happy for the seventh position and happy to see the great efforts from the whole team paid off.”

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul added: “This showed us what can be achieved if we all pull together as a team. After a difficult weekend for all because of the track conditions we were able to show strong race pace with Nico and Carlos delivering exactly as desired.

“The result puts us in a better championship position heading to the final three races of the season and it gives a lot of confidence to the team and our drivers.”