Force India discovered floor problem on Nico Hulkenberg's car

Hulkenberg's run of consecutive top-six finishes was ended by a disappointing run at Barcelona, where he finished 10th and was beaten by team-mate Sergio Perez for the second time this year.

The German confirmed Force India had found a specific problem with the floor on his car during the post-Spanish GP test that had compromised his race, meaning he finished 10 seconds behind Perez despite outqualifying the Mexican.

"Doing the test after Barcelona we found some stuff in the car that was compromising our weekend there, so knowing what we know now - that we compromised our weekend and it could have been better - is encouraging," Hulkenberg told reporters ahead of this weekend's Monaco GP.

The discovery has left Hulkenberg more optimistic about his form in Monte Carlo.

"It's Monaco, it's special, so you can never be too sure - you just have to start the weekend and build up the momentum," he said.

"The target is as usual to score points. Hopefully we can put it all together here.

"It's going to be tough and challenging but I think we're going to be OK."