Nico Hulkenberg reckons he would have kept Yuki Tsunoda behind in F1 US GP, as Gabriel Bortoleto expands on tough weekend.
After the disaster in sprint race, Sauber’s Hulkenberg qualified 11th for F1 US GP, where he lost to Red Bull’s Tsunoda at the start. It equaled immediately when he was able to clear Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. But the German was crucially behind the Japanese driver, who had similar pace.
He ran outside the points until the incident between Carlos Sainz and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, which pushed him in ninth. A moment for Oliver Bearman allowed Hulkenberg to get eighth where he would finish. But looking at the pace, he felt, if he was in front of Tsunoda, he would have kept him behind.
“I gained one with Alonso, so I think it was equal [losing out to Yuki],” said Hulkenerg to media. “I mean, I think we were very similar pace wise, so probably yes [I would have held him back]. [With Bearman,] obviously, he had that spin and his tyres were not in the best shape, got me into his DRS and it was kind of that, like you say now or never, also being on soft tyre if you don’t get it done in one or two laps, your tyres were overheat and you are just a sitting duck.
“That was crucial to keep that position,” summed up Hulkenberg, who scored for the first time since his Silverstone podium. He didn’t do anything different in Austin to improve after the last few rounds. But since the start of the weekend, he was already in a rhythm that set the tone, apart from the one glitch in sprint when he crashed out.
“You don’t miss a chance with such opportunity, pretty confident if we have gone through Lap 1 normally, we would have scored points in sprint too but it is racing, it happened, it is what it is,” continued Hulkenberg. “But happy at least we got something at the end on Sunday. I think also having just more speed and pace helps, that’s just luxury and buffer if you have that, and we weren’t blessed or so in the last few events.
“I feel we were always…probably in the midfield, only the second or third fastest car. I think this weekend, maybe the fastest or on par with Williams and then in front of the others was my feeling. But otherwise also, it was a clean executed weekend,” summed up Hulkenberg, whose teammate Bortoleto simply had no luck or pace whatsoever in Austin.
Even though it was a new track for him, one learns step by step, but no matter what he did to his car, it didn’t deliver. It was one of the worst he had in his small F1 career thus far. He could identify the one thing that didn’t work, but he thinks it is more about moving on to Mexico rather than dwell on why things didn’t work. Of course, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be any analysis on it.
“Yeah, I think there has been no weekend this year that I have been off Nico in a way that I cannot find lap time and I think just in quali, I was off,” said Bortoleto to media. “I have been trying a lot of different things in the car that didn’t work. From my side, I am not sure if I did the best I could in quali. I didn’t have so many laps that car we choose was not too bad in quali.
“And yeah, I mean it is definitely been one of the most difficult weekends for me in Formula 1. At the beginning of the season, we had results like this but we know our car was finishing there. This weekend I think that there was no pace and we need to understand why and analyse things and try to find a solution for Mexico, that is a new track as well.
“That is one specific things that I miss this weekend, that is not normal that I miss. I don’t understand really why and I don’t think we will understand. It is just about moving on to new weekend and hopefully next time I am talking to you and you guys are saying ‘congratulations, good quali or something else’,” summed up Bortoleto.
He was also cleared of any wrongdoing against Alexander Albon at the start, when the Thai was spun around on Lap 1 after a minor contact. It wasn’t the Brazilian’s fault. The team pulled him in early to sway away from traffic, but it didn’t work out, as the soft tyre hung on more than anybody anticipated it to. Towards the end, he stayed with the Alpine pair, as he did from Lap 1 onward.
“I think we touched, I don’t really know what happened, I need to look at the video, but I think he touched my rear axle and he ended up spinning,” recalled Bortoleto. “I had damage from that or not but anyway, it is a weekend about moving on, going to Mexico and hope to have a better one. I was stuck behind Gasly or Colapinto, I don’t know which of them was.
“I don’t think we were bad with that softs. I think I got a call to come to the pits and the tyres weren’t doing too bad that moment, but I think it is something to analyse, it is difficult to say now, I have just finished a tough race and honestly if anything, I don’t want to say here. I think it is time to analyse with the team, because I know they are working very hard to give me the best they can and it is easy now to judge to say this or that before analysing,” summed up Bortoleto.
Here’s how F1 US GP panned out