Nico Hulkenberg says Niels Wittich didn’t think he did anything differently with the F1 Azerbaijan GP call after last lap collision.
Haas’ Hulkenberg was on course for more points in F1 Azerbaijan GP until the last lap clash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. He slowed for debris and he was not only overtaken by teammate Oliver Bearman, but also Lewis Hamilton as he ended up 11th.
Naturally, he was livid on the radio, not because others chanced upon the situation, but by the late call to deploy the Virtual Safety Car, if not a full Safety Car. The German overcame some of the frustration in Singapore after a solid points finish, but he did have a talk with FIA Race Director Wittich before the weekend.
He didn’t divulge what they discussed, but Hulkenberg noted that Wittich didn’t think he did anything different to previous times. The German was not the only one to raise queries about the delayed call, with the likes of Sainz and even Max Verstappen taking up the case.
“I think I was certainly surprised that it went back to green after the yellow flag section, and it took quite a while then for the VSC to come out,” said Hulkenberg to media. “In recent history, and, for example, Melbourne last year, after the Alpine crash, the red flag, it happened very, very quickly. So certainly a bit different to how it’s been handled in the past, so that was surprising.
“It looked like we’re on for a happy end [in Baku], but in the last two laps things went south, and slipped through our hands, which obviously is very frustrating – missed opportunity. But I’ve turned the page, moved on. So I don’t really want to talk about too many details anymore. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation (laughs).
“Anyways, I went to see Niels after the race. I can’t say too much. He felt that he handled it how he usually handles it, he didn’t feel that it was different,” summed up Hulkenberg, whose frustration stemmed from lack of quick calls than being overtaken by Bearman.
As for Sainz, he felt that the FIA should have at least deployed the safety car, if not throw in a red flag. “I was surprised to see footage of Haas drivers going through the yellow flag and obviously going through the debris, only double yellow which still means that need to be prepared to stop, but in a middle of the race, being prepared to stop while racing is still middle of the grey area and then how they overtook each other in Turn 3-4 and there was some racing going on after that,” he said.
“When I saw that, I didn’t like it, I felt that considering the severity of the incident, it should have been straightaway a safety car, some drivers have talked about a red flag straightaway, my feeling is as soon as we put a safety car, I think it is safe in F1. And if you throw a red flag, then you risk the race..that the leader might be a little bit unfortunate, so yes, we need to race under safety car, I think probably as soon as possible.”
Here’s Haas pair on taking Visa Cash App RB
Here’s latest on Haas losing out to Guenther Steiner
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact