After several close podium misses in the past, Hulkenberg continued: “Today, I think I was in denial until the last pit stop, then when I heard we had gapped Lewis quite a bit with the one extra lap I was like, ‘Okay, this is good! This is some breathing space!’

“But then he was catching quite quickly. The pressure was there, it was an intense race, but we didn’t crack. No mistakes and obviously really, really happy with that.

“Obviously I was thinking that Lewis is going to give it all in front of his home crowd and I was like, ‘Sorry guys – it’s also my day!’ I’ve got to stick my neck out.”

Hulkenberg’s fourth successive top-10 finish moves Sauber up to sixth in the Teams’ Championship standings on 41 points, five clear of rivals Racing Bulls and Aston Martin.