Nico Hulkenberg admits that he was surprised by the late call for a VSC after Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed in the Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP – a scenario that contributed to him losing two places and dropping out of the points.
The Haas driver passed the yellows at the accident scene, and he assumed from past experience that given its scale that there would be an immediate red flag or safety car situation.
In fact the rest of the track remained green and on realising that both Lewis Hamilton and Hulkenberg’s own team mate Oliver Bearman got the jump on the German, demoting him from ninth place to 11th before the VSC was called for and positions were frozen.
“I think I was certainly surprised that it went back to green, and it took quite a while then for the VSC to come out,” Hulkenberg said in Singapore on Thursday.
“I think in recent history, and for example in Melbourne last year after the Alpine crash, the red flag happened very, very quickly. So certainly a bit different to I think how it’s been handled in the past. So that was surprising.
“But all-in-all it was a difficult weekend in Baku somehow. And Sunday actually looked pretty alright, it looked like we were on for a happy end.
“But in the last two laps, things went south, and slipped through our through our hands, which obviously is very frustrating, and a missed opportunity. But I’ve turned the page, I’ve moved on.”
Hulkenberg confirmed that he spoke to FIA race director Niels Wittich about the yellow flag situation.
“I went to see Niels after the race,” he noted. “I can’t say too much. He felt that he handled it how he usually handles it. He didn’t feel that it was different.”
He added: “I suspect it’s going to come up tomorrow in the drivers’ meeting. I don’t know what the outcome will be, or the consequence, but I think we’ll talk about it and see if it’s going to be any different in the future.”
Hulkenberg insisted that his frustration wasn’t compounded by the fact that he was jumped by own his rookie team mate.
“No, the contrary to be honest, that we did pick up a point, and more relief than frustration,” he said when asked by formu1a.uno.
“Ollie did a great job all weekend. He almost didn’t put a foot wrong. A very challenging track. I guess it helps that I think someone said that it’s one of his favourite tracks, and he was very confident. He was really on the money. So fair play to him, he did really well.”
