Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto not too pleased after early spins left them only in learning mode in F1 Chinese GP and far away from scoring points.
While the gravel run of Sauber’s Bortoleto was aired on world feed in F1 Chinese GP, but the one involving Hulkenberg wasn’t. It was the early spins for both the drivers which left them at the back of the field and with little chance of any fightback into the points.
Hulkenberg lost control of the rear on the opening stint when trying to pass cars. It left him with damage which meant, it was only a learning race to finish 18th. Even post-race disqualification for three drivers didn’t help to finish any higher than 15th in the revised order.
“I lost the car or rear in Turn 3, I was alongside with a Aston, my rear gave up very aggressively, I went wide off the track through the gravel, came back last,” said Hulkenberg to media. I know there is dirty air, it is not my first race, but obviously it is the first race in the dry with these cars, Australia was different obviously with inters and conditions were different.
“I guess the takeaway is that it caught me by surprise, it snapped, that was pretty spectacular. I guess, we are still learning the car, still exploring stuff. I think we picked up quite damage my team said on the floor, the car was losing some downforce and drive. Obviously, it was difficult to manage and to do still do one stop on that, not a bad effort but obviously disappointing and frustrating that it happened so early because that was the end for the race,” summed up Hulkenberg.
Teammate Bortoleto fared no better as he also had a trip to gravel early on. Considering it was his first race in dry conditions, the off didn’t help per se but doing his own race helped to understand more. He was 17th on the road – just ahead of Hulkenberg – and was classified 13th after disqualification.
“Dirty air, bit of dirty track as well, I was on the outside trying to overtake Bearman who was on hard, I gave too margin so that I do not crash into him, but I actually got too much dirt and I lost the rear by myself, there wasn’t anything else, honestly bit of dirty air didn’t help but it was my fault,” said Bortoleto to media.
“After that, I managed to come back to the pits, changed to hard tyres because the vibrations were too big. I then managed my tyres, practiced a bit race pace and that was it. It is a shame because we always want to be fighting with people ahead but looking at the pace and what I heard, it was not that I was going to do much better than what we did. I think maybe fighting with Doohan but I gave my best, it was good to practice. Actually, it was my first dry race in Formula 1.”
Here’s onboard showing spin: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-chinese-grand-prix-best-race-start-onboards.1827476300322664089
