F1: Hulkenberg Upbeat On Sauber Progress

Formula 1

F1: Hulkenberg Upbeat On Sauber Progress

Nico Hulkenberg joined Sauber for the 2013 season...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 07, 2013 Jerez (ESP)

Nico Hulkenberg says there are no obvious issues with the Sauber C32. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Nico Hulkenberg was in positive mood after his first two days of testing with Sauber at Jerez this week.

The German said there were no obvious issues with the C32, adding that the car was a good starting point.

“I’ve basically gotten a bit more comfortable with the car,” he said when asked for his thoughts by SPEED.com. “First two days in the office, obviously quite a few things and items to get used to, so that was my main priority, to come here and make sure I’m comfortable in the car, seating-wise, and then obviously with the steering wheel, etc., etc.

“We’re making sure the car is reliable. We had no issues on that side in those two days. We had quite a large test program already which we completed successfully, and two very productive days.

“It’s something we can build on. It’s, I think, a good baseline. It needs good development, further work. We know in F1 you cannot stop.”

Asked if he thought it would be a competitive car, he said: “I think so, yeah. At this point, I can’t see a big issue. At some point, I looked at the timing monitor, it looked like qualifying already, it was separated by only a few hundredths! We should be happy with the two days; the car performed reasonable well, and, like I said, something we can build on.”

Sauber does not have a simulator, and despite being brought up on one at both Williams and Force India, Hulkenberg says he did not miss that extra preparation.

“No, not really,” he said. “To be honest, I felt quite good without it. You’re right; normally at this point we would have been in the simulator a couple of times already, but not having it didn’t really make a difference in terms of me coming here and driving on the circuit, and having the Formula One feeling.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.