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Hulkenberg hampered by driveline issue

ESPNF1 Staff
March 2, 2012 « New parts make final two days 'important' - Vettel | Vergne ready for grand prix debut »
Nico Hulkenberg: "We had some downtime in the afternoon, which limited my mileage" © Sutton Images
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Nico Hulkenberg admitted he was a bit frustrated to miss out on the afternoon of his penultimate day of pre-season testing due to a driveline issue.

Hulkenberg completed just 33 laps on Friday after the mechanical problem sidelined his car for most of the afternoon. He will be back in the cockpit on Sunday, but it is the second afternoon he has missed during testing after Jules Bianchi damaged the car at Jerez.

"The day started well with some set-up work and new tyres runs, but we had some downtime in the afternoon, which limited my mileage," Hulkenberg said. "It's a bit frustrating, but we've had a pretty good winter so far and it's nothing to worry about. I've got one more day in the car before we travel to Melbourne, so I will try to make the most of it and carry out a full race simulation."

Chief engineer Jakob Andreasen said the team would also complete a race simulation on Saturday when Paul di Resta is due to drive.

"The plan had been to attempt a race distance, so we will need to reschedule this for tomorrow when Paul is back in the car," he said. "Fortunately we had a productive morning when Nico carried out some new tyre appraisals of the hard and medium compounds, and we also ran through our race weekend procedures."

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