Nico Hulkenberg: Holding on to fourth will be tough in the German Grand Prix

The Force India driver secured his best qualifying result of the year when he finished as fifth fastest in the wet session. He will start from fourth, however, after third-placed Mark Webber was handed a penalty for a gearbox change.

Hulkenberg said he was happy with the result, but he is aware that staying in that position will be difficult given the pace of the cars behind in the dry.

"I'm fairly happy, to be honest, although in Q3 I felt better in the car in the beginning when it was wetter and in the end when it was drier I was struggling a bit more," said Hulkenberg.

"To bring it back home in that position is the challenge tomorrow, and it's quite a big task. We will try to defend as best as we can, but the pressure is always there because is ahead and we are in need to score points. We can only do what we can and get the maximum out of this weekend."

The German downplayed the effect luck had on his result, however, saying his team had done a very good job in managing the conditions.

"It was not just luck," he said. "I think it was a good performance by us. We were on the track in the right moments and I did the laps in the right moments. It's the second row only because Mark has a penalty, but even fifth place we can be quite happy with that."

And the Force India driver said his car was set up for a dry race.

"We didn't change the car for the wet," he added.