Nico Hulkenberg says he was not surprised he couldn't get past Romain Grosjean in the Australian Grand Prix as he spent much of his race bottled up behind the Haas.

The German endured a frustrating race in Melbourne as the mid-race red flag scuppered his strategy and saw him restart behind cars that had begun behind him.

One of those drivers was Grosjean who, by contrast, benefited from the red flag, though it was expected that the Force India man would be able to overhaul the Haas in its first F1 race. However, he couldn't get close enough to make a move.

Even so, Hulkenberg says he was unsurprised by the outcome, admitting Albert Park is difficult to overtake on and the Haas is 'not a bad car'.

"It has some good pace and, in traffic, if you are the guy behind, you suffer a lot," he pointed out, "You lose downforce and get a lot more tyre deg as well.

"Over 40 laps that accumulates a lot. It was tough. After the first couple of laps, I realised that this was going to be a long 40 laps looking at the diffuser."



