Hulkenberg says Renault took "good step" in improving race pace

After a bad first lap cost him positions the team decided to keep Hulkenberg out on the ultrasoft tyres for as long as possible, and he finally came in on lap 40 – while most other drivers had pitted between laps 21 and 30.

He eventually recovered to eighth place, helped by the retirement of Daniel Ricciardo and a puncture for Felipe Massa.

Hulkenberg believes that the team has done a good job of lifting its game on Sundays relative to its impressive qualifying pace.

"Yes, definitely, that's fair to say," he said. "Still not entirely happy, I think there's still more work to do, for my taste there's still a little bit too much of an offset between the two.

"But I think we definitely did a good step in the right direction this weekend in this case."

He admitted that he couldn't have pushed the ultrasoft tyres much further than lap 40.

"They really were starting to go, and I was starting to lose the first couple of tenths. Had we hung out there I would have lost more significant time, within one or two laps.

"I'm actually really happy with what the team did there, and how we played the strategy. We lost track position straight away at the start on the first lap, which wasn't great, we were struggling at the start, losing positions.

"But that was the only thing we could do, change the strategy. When everybody was pitting out of our way, I kept on pushing on the ultrasoft.

"I have to say the car performed very well, it was switching on almost during that first stint with track improvement. I was able to go faster and faster and faster for many laps. It was very enjoyable."