Hulkenberg: 'Fu**** Up Big Time’
F1Tuesday, 10 October 2023 at 12:00
Updated at Tuesday, 10 October 2023 at 22:48
Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg reflected on a mistake he made before the start of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix is likely the weekend that Nico Hulkenberg will want to forget as soon as possible. All was not negative as Hulkenberg had a great Sprint Shootout session, finishing seventh ahead of drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, and Fernando Alonso.
However, the Sprint did not turn out well for the German driver. Hulkenberg was trying to overtake Esteban Ocon with a switchback from the outside of the first corner to the outside of the second corner.
At that point, Ocon was on the inside for turn number 2, and Hulkenberg was on the outside being pushed wider and wider by Ocon, who didn’t realize that Sergio Perez joined the fight going around the outside of the pair.
Hulkenberg got "sandwiched" in between Ocon and Perez, which resulted in a big crash, taking all three drivers out of the session.
The main race on Sunday was a time for Hulkenberg to improve his weekend. However, the number 27 driver made a mistake after the formation lap when he slid into the starting spot of Carlos Sainz, who did not attend the race due to technical issues.
Sainz was supposed to start in front of Hulkenberg, so it was easy to mistake the starting position. Following this error, Hulkenberg received a 10-second penalty from FIA, which said in the official document:
"The Stewards reviewed video evidence, showing that at the time of the start signal, Car 27 was in the incorrect grid position. In fact, Car 27 took the starting position that was allocated to Car 55 which was not able to start the race, so he started the race from P12 instead of P14."
Hulkenberg aware of his mistake said in the post-race interview: “I mean yeah, fu**** up big-time. Can’t say much more. Once I realized it actually before I stopped you know, but you can’t reverse, you know.”
After having to serve the 10-second penalty, Hulkenberg fell down the order and did not have the pace to make a comeback. The German added:
"Anyway, the damage was done so yeah, that was obviously a big mistake from me today, and it killed our race before it had even really started."
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