Hulkenberg: Williams lacking some pace

The reigning GP2 champion finished the first day of testing with the second fastest time, but his best lap of 1m22.407s was nearly one second adrift of Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Hulkenberg believes that Williams is part of a second group of teams slightly behind Red Bull and Friday morning pacesetter Ferrari, and unlike some other teams he is not convinced that it is possible to match their pace.

When asked if the FW32 was capable of matching the fastest times set so far at the test Hulkenberg said: "It's difficult. I think not quite, but we are not so far away.

"I think Ferrari and Red Bull are just a little bit faster everywhere. Then there is a drop down, with teams like us, McLaren, Mercedes, Renault, but it is so difficult to read.

"We did some high and low fuel runs to give me the feeling of how the balance shifts with the car, but I don't want to be thinking about where we would be compared to everyone else on fuel. I just concentrate on myself."

Despite lacking a little bit of speed at the moment, Hulkenberg is at least confident that there is more to come from the car.

"We have a good baseline with this car and the engine, and there is good potential in it," he said. "We just need to understand how to get everything out of it."