The Australian Grand Prix brought an unprecedented level of chaos, and though Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg was able to stay out of trouble, he was greatly disadvantaged by the decision to revert to the running order before the third restart of the race.
“It was wild and a bit messy at times,” Hülkenberg said after the race, “We’ll have to look through everything that happened as there were a lot of things happening.”
The German driver started tenth and remained in the points by the time his team-mate Kevin Magnussen lost a rear-right tyre after collision with the wall on lap fifty-two, causing the second red flag of the day.
The final restart saw four cars retire, with crashes occurring up and down the field– Hülkenberg, however, benefitted from the hectic lap, rising all the way up to fourth when a third red flag was declared.
It would have been an extraordinary result for Haas, but the FIA elected to reset the starting grid to the last time the cars could be accurately placed in order– which was before said restart. This meant that he would finish the race in eighth place under neutral conditions.
Hülkenberg was disappointed that the final restart turned out the way it did, with several incidents necessitating a stoppage.
“I had a super start the third time around on softs and came through to P4, so it’s a shame there were a few incidents and then the race was red flagged.”
Haas lodged a protest in order to try and regain what would have been a podium finish– considering the application of Carlos Sainz’s penalty– but the protest was dismissed by the stewards, and Hülkenberg was officially classified in seventh place.
Looking ahead to future races, Hülkenberg feels that he is in a good place with the team and is optimistic about development as they continue to tweak VF-23.
“There are a lot of positive learnings again and I feel there are a lot of good things happening. I’m refreshed, in a very positive mindset and really enjoy working with the team and experimenting with the car. We have very good momentum and that’s what we want to take into the next races.”
“It wasn’t my day” – Kevin Magnussen
Luck was not on Magnussen’s side in Albert Park, from strategy to an unfortunate retirement for the Danish driver. He lost time to change tyres under the first safety car just before the race was stopped, placing him at a significant disadvantage to those who benefitted from a free stop.
“It’s unfortunate, we were in P12 I think at that time and it didn’t look like I was going to be able to score points. We got unlucky with the first red flag as we had just pitted from P11 and we seemed to be quicker than the next couple of cars so I was quite confident at that stage of the race.”
“Then we pitted under the safety car and just afterwards, it turned to a red flag. Everyone put their tires on to go to the end of the race and we were last.”
He was, however, able to work his way back up the field until lap fifty-two, when his race was put to an end as he lost a tyre after scraping with the wall– contact that didn’t seem all too severe for Magnussen in the moment.
“I brushed the wall at the exit of Turn 2 and the rim broke, the tire came off and I had to stop. I didn’t even feel it so it definitely wasn’t something that felt big in the car, but it was enough to crack the rim and take the tire off.”
In spite of the unfortunate result, Magnussen was happy with the performance of the car and is motivated to keep pushing for results in races to come.
“It wasn’t my day but it seemed like the car had decent pace so I’m encouraged by that and we’ll push next time.”
