How F1's turbo-hybrid era hurt Nico Hulkenberg and worked for Sergio Perez

F1 pundit Edd Straw has said that Sergio Perez's ability to manage his rear tyres has worked in the turbo-hybrid while comparing it to Nico Hulkenberg.

The duo were teammates at Force India F1 team for three seasons, from 2014- 2016 and finished in points regularly. Hulkenberg got the better of Perez twice at the end of the season but the Mexican was the one who scored all the podiums for the team during their time together.

On The Race podcast, Straw said:

"The interesting point of how the parameters of F1 change is quite relevant. Obviously, Nico Hulkenberg in his younger days was touted as a future world champion and I think there are limitations about he goes about things, etc, meaning that he hasn't capitalized on that.

"But that puts him in that group of drivers who can be really, really good in the right set of circumstances and I think the way F1's been for the majority of his career has gone against him. He's worked to improve his tire management but never got to the level of Sergio Perez in terms of dealing with rear tires management and how you change your lines, detecting the tires slips, etc."

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"I’m refreshed, I’ve got a good mindset, a very positive mindset" - Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg made his comeback on the grid with the Haas F1 team at the start of the season and said that he felt refreshed after his P7 finish in Melbourne.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

“Yeah, I enjoy it, to say the least. I’m refreshed, I’ve got a good mindset, a very positive mindset. I’m feeling hungry. I really like and enjoy working with the team, exploiting the car, experimenting with the car, and we’ve got a very nice rhythm and momentum, and I think that’s what we want to preserve and keep now and take that into the next couple of races.”

“But even before that, I think we would have come home in P9, which is obviously not as good as P7 or P4 or something, but still a lot of positive learnings again and [we can] take a lot of positives out of this race and [going] forward – I feel there’s a lot of good things happening.”

It will be interesting to see where Nico Hulkenberg finishes in his comeback season in F1.