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Hulkenberg not thinking about maiden podium in Monaco

Nico Hulkenberg says he is not getting distracted by the possibility of scoring his first ever Formula 1 podium finish in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

XPB Images

Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 on the Hype Energy Drink yacht
Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09
Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India

The Force India driver will start Sunday's Monte Carlo race from fifth place, only trailing the two Mercedes drivers, Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in qualifying.

But despite securing his best grid slot since last year's Austrian Grand Prix, Hulkenberg insists he isn't getting carried away by the thought of finishing in the top three for the first time in his F1 career.

"To be honest, [getting on the podium] is not on my mind at all," he said when asked about the possibility.

"We are in Monaco. It could be the most boring race, [or] it could be the most eventful race ever. Also there is some rain expected, [so] maybe we get a wet start, you never know here.

"We have a good starting position, but we still have not won anything and [in the race] we are going to have to do it all over again," the German added.

Since his sole points finish of the 2016 campaign in Australia, Hulkenberg has endured a string of torrid races - failing to finish in Sochi and Barcelona - but the 28-year-old says he is only looking ahead.

"[In] the four poor races, it’s not that there were silly mistakes," he said. "It was frustrating and unfortunate, but that’s out of the system, the focus is on this weekend.

"It’s nice to have a good result for once. We were confident of making it inside the top 10, but fifth was a nice surprise.

"All we want to do [in the race] is to see the chequered flag, I haven’t seen it in a long time!"

Perez 'struggling' for balance

While Sergio Perez also made it to Q3, the Mexican was not satisfied with qualifying eighth, admitting he struggled with the balance of the upgraded Force India around the streets of Monaco.

"The whole weekend, I haven’t had the confidence in the car, and in Monaco if you don’t have that, you lose couple of tenths," said Perez, who starts seventh after Kimi Raikkonen's five-place grid penalty.

"I have a couple of issues with the front of the car, we have to check if there’s something wrong with the airflow system, our mechanical system that we are using.

"I was braking a lot earlier in Q3 and so we were struggling with understeer, so we have to see what is wrong there."

Despite his issues, Perez nonetheless remains confident of a good result on Sunday: "I think we can do a good job [in the race].

"I mean to have such a bad balance and to qualify where we are shows the potential of the car."

Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov

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