Hulk wants to halve the gap to frontrunners

Nico Hulkenberg reckons if Renault can halve the gap to F1’s leading trio, they will have a good shot at fourth place in this year’s championship.

Last season Renault finished sixth in the standings after a late surge saw them edge Toro Rosso by four points.

The Enstone team finished with 57 points, less than a third of what Hulkenberg’s former team Force India scored to claim fourth place.

This year the German is keen to secure that P4 for Renault but concedes they need to up the pace to stand any chance of being best of the rest.

“The team has been together for a while now and this is starting to pay off, it should help us improve,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“We have worked diligently on all fronts and take a good step in performance and reliability.

“We are much better prepared than last year.”

He added: “The top three will continue to be at the front. Then I hope it is us and McLaren.

“If we manage to reduce the gap to the top teams to half then we will have done a good job.

“We’d automatically make a good move up the field so we’d have a chance to become fourth.”