Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg is annoyed that he made the wrong decision in the early stages of the Zandvoort race and stayed out on dry tyres.
“It’s annoying,” said Nico Hülkenberg after his twelfth place in the Formula 1 race in Zandvoort. In his opinion, Haas missed out on a possible top 10 result today when you didn’t come to the pits to change tires like many others in the early stages.
While Sergio Perez, for example, was the first driver to get intermediates and thus took the lead, Haas wanted to sit out the rain that came right after the start and let the German out on his dry tires. That was the wrong decision, as it turned out later.
“I think we missed a good opportunity in the first round. Not to stop, we really have to take a good look at it, the team and myself too,” he said, taking responsibility for “Sky”. “I should have made the call to stop.”
Because in retrospect, the rain was too heavy to stay on the track on slicks: “It was only announced as a short shower, but the first five laps were just a fight for survival and we felt like we lost half a day in comparison to those who were stopped at Inter”, the German annoyed.
After six laps, Hülkenberg’s deficit had increased to more than a minute, while teammate Kevin Magnussen was in the points in ninth place, despite having started behind the field from the pits after an engine change. The Dane had long since tried a possible switch back to slicks.
However, Hulkenberg says that the amount of rain cannot be reliably predicted, “so it’s very, very difficult to make these live decisions,” said the Haas pilot. “It’s an opportunity and a risk at the same time. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
“That’s annoying!”
In that case, it was the wrong decision, which pushed Hülkenberg back to 18th position. “It’s frustrating, it’s annoying,” he says angrily. “After that I drove my race somewhere in no man’s land relatively far behind.”
As the race progressed, however, Hülkenberg gradually worked his way back up the field and, among other things, passed his teammate Magnussen again, who was no longer able to keep up with Hülkenberg’s pace after switching to the soft tires.
The German himself struggled just outside the top 10 for most of the race and wasn’t able to benefit from the onset of rain in the closing stages either. When the red flag came, the Haas pilot was only in 14th place.
After the restart, he gained at least two more positions against Yuki Tsunoda and George Russell, who fell behind with a puncture, but it was not more than twelfth place. “I have the feeling that we left something behind today,” he says.
Update with need for improvement
The only positive for him was that he was at least able to collect information today with the new front wing.
His verdict on the upgrade? “It felt like it was a tick better in some places,” he says. But: “There is still room for improvement or some catching up to do compared to other midfield candidates.”
“I saw and learned a lot of references there today, also with other cars that I fought with and that were around me. I think it’s a step forward. The next races will tell if it’s big enough show. I think we still have a lot of room for improvement.”
Competitor Williams, who were level on points before the race, initially pulled away a bit thanks to Alexander Albon’s four points.