Nico Hülkenberg has laid the blame for his late race spin in the Mexican Grand Prix on the hands of Kimi Raikkonen, after admitting that he pitched his car into the spin to avoid a collision with the Scuderia Ferrari driver.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team racer was bidding to hold off the Finn for sixth position despite having significantly older tyres – Hülkenberg’s tyres were thirty-one laps older than Raikkonen’s – but the German felt the Ferrari driver should have given him more room as he was forced to spin to avoid hitting his rival.
As a result, Hülkenberg was forced to settle for seventh, although the result, coupled with a tenth place finish for team-mate Sergio Perez meant Force India extended their advantage over Williams Martini Racing by a further point to nine with two races of the season remaining in their battle for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
“It was a shame what Kimi did at the end,” said Hulkenberg after the race on Autosport.com. “I was on old worn tyres, and obviously he had much fresher tyres and a car advantage.
“I tried to hang on to it, but no chance. It could’ve have been an accident, where I could’ve ran into him and we both sustain substantial damage.
“I was obviously defending, braking on the inside on the dirty part [of the track] on very old, worn tyres, absolutely on the limit.
“He comes around the outside on fresh boots and just turns in on me. I’m like, ‘dude, where do you expect me to go?’ I can’t just disappear in the air. So he could’ve given more room. It was frustrating, anyway, to be stuck there.”
