Hulkenberg shocked with front row: "Obviously this comes a bit unexpected"

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Nico Hulkenberg surprised with qualifying performance in Canada
17 June 2023 at 22:30
Last update 17 June 2023 at 22:35
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  • Toby McLuskie

Nico Hulkenberg will be the talk of the paddock for the rest of the night as he joins Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix. The German qualified second after putting in the final lap before the red flag in Q3.

“I did [have fun]," he told Danica Patrick after qualifying, "it was a wild quali, it was crazy, changing conditions are tricky especially around here with the walls so close and the exits and the speeds high."

He went on to add how hard it was to adjust to the changing conditions but is over the moon at how he and his team [Haas] worked and communicated throughout qualifying, he said: "Obviously wet, dry and then back to wet so we had to readjust all the time but it was fun, it was good. Obviously, this comes a bit unexpected but obviously very happy and proud, the team did a solid job, it was really smooth, so super happy.

 “In this weather, it’s just a lot of communication, a lot of radio calls going back and forth, obviously you look at what the others do and you think for yourself but I think we did pretty well today, no major mistakes and I guess that’s also why we stand here now.”

When questioned on what he will aim to do tomorrow, the German laughed and stated: “We’ll have to see, [but the] first row is nice, it’s very sweet, let’s see how long we can keep that and let's see what the conditions are tomorrow. All the signs are that it's very different and a dry race so [it's] a very different cup of tea. I just want to go out there, race as hard as we can squeeze it and get a nice result.”