Renault F1 team made race pace step in Russian GP

While the Enstone outfit has made strong gains in its second season after taking over the Lotus outfit at the end of 2015, Hulkenberg lost ground in the midfield on Sundays relative to the qualifying pace that took him to Q3 in China and Bahrain.

As a result, Renault left Bahrain - where Jolyon Palmer also made Q3 - with just two points on the board and eighth in the constructors' championship.

It took a new front wing to Russia with a view to helping fix the deficit, and Hulkenberg finished where he started - eighth - despite dropping to 10th on a messy first lap.

Asked if he felt Renault's race pace had improved, Hulkenberg replied: "Yes, definitely, that's fair to say.

"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 [qualifying and race pace].

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

Hulkenberg praised Renault's call to keep him out on ultra-soft tyres until lap 40 of 52 - most drivers making their pitstops between laps 21 and 30 - while the retirement of Daniel Ricciardo and a puncture for Felipe Massa helped get him two places back.

Although he finished behind both Force India drivers, who jumped him at the start, Hulkenberg set the seventh-fastest race lap.

"I'm actually really happy with what the team did there, and how we played the strategy," he said.

"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 ultra-soft.

"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."

AVERAGE 10 FASTEST RUSSIAN GP RACE LAPS

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m37.582s
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m37.717s (+0.135s)
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1m37.794s (+0.212s)
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1m38.575s (+0.993s)
5. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m38.666s (+1.084s)
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m38.715s (+1.133s)
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1m38.840s (+1.258s)
8. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m38.873s (+1.291s)
9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m39.111s (+1.529s)
10. Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1m39.162s (+1.580s)