Nico Hülkenberg: Haas has the “momentum” in the RB-F1 fight

Nico Hülkenberg has thrown down the gauntlet to rival RB. He and Haas want to steal sixth place from the team from Faenza in the Formula 1 constructors' championship.

Hülkenberg started the Singapore Grand Prix in fifth place and was aiming for a high points finish at the checkered flag to take advantage of the close battle in the lower F1 rankings.

The German enjoyed an aggressive opening lap, overtaking the McLaren of Oscar Piastri before losing position mid-lap.

However, he remained in sixth place until his stop on lap 29; After Fernando Alonso's Ferraris and Aston Martin recovered from their poor starts, he inevitably fell behind.

After the race, Hulkenberg said the pain of missing out on points last weekend in Baku had been eased, but that the team had to rethink its one-stop strategy

“I'm happy about the points, that's what counts, of course. Good from that point of view.

“A few things to look into and review in terms of strategy. But otherwise a clean race, not very eventful of course, but quite stressful, which kept the Red Bull at bay for the entire second stint.

“It was hard to get it to the finish line with the tires and everything, but yeah, we did it. Happy and a bit of redemption from last week.”

“Clinical” second stay required

Hullkeberg revealed that the extremely challenging heat in Singapore affected him and stressed the need for a perfect second stint without mistakes to preserve his hard tires.

“A very intense second stint,” he added. “Like everyone, I had to stay flawless and super clean and clinical. But yeah, it was hard to feel the heat from him [Perez] and catch Fernando [Alonso]then to be in its dirty air.

“Of course it's difficult to overtake with these cars when you're close now, and the braking zones are so small that we brake so late, it's very difficult to overtake here.” But yes, it was a difficult second stint under a lot of pressure from him [Perez]. Not that we were racing, but I just had to stay clean.

“It wasn't easy, it was very challenging and hard. It’s all the better that we succeeded.”

The German also reiterated his belief that sixth place in the constructors' championship is within reach for Haas. The American team is now only three points away from RB.

“I think everyone on the team believes strongly that we can challenge them and fight them. Last weekend we got a point [with Bearman]. We should have scored more points and now, with six races to go, everything is open.

“Of course they won’t give it to us. They'll try to fight back, but it's just a race to the finish. But I think we have good momentum. There's a bit of a break now, but I'm really looking forward to the next triple-header for probably the best time of the season.

“We are competitive in the races and in Austin we actually get further improvements. So that’s encouraging, but I think there are some good stretches ahead for us and our package and I’m looking forward to hopefully picking up a few more points.”