Nico Hulkenberg has revealed how the marshals at Turn 1 for the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix were “partying” after illegally helping the Haas driver rejoin the race after an off.
The German spun out in difficult conditions at Interlagos and although he failed to reach the barriers at the first corner, he became beached on a crest in the run-off area, with his rear wheels in the air.
This led to the use of the virtual safety car – one which brought race-defining pit stops – but instead of Hulkenberg retiring, he was pushed off the ledge and continued.
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But the use of outside assistance contravened F1 regulations and saw Hulkenberg disqualified – the first driver shown the black flag since the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007.
Recapping his race, Hulkenberg said: “I think it was going OK on the inters actually; I was in a train with Pierre [Gasly] and Fernando [Alonso] for a long time, before we pitted. So I think we were going OK – it wasn’t dreadful, but it wasn’t amazing either.
“Just after the pit stop, our race somehow… obviously it finished pretty quickly and it all went south from there.”
On the incident that ultimately saw him disqualified, Hulkenberg explained: “They [the marshals] came out, they pushed me off and they were really happy with themselves.
“They were partying and pushing me on and saying, ‘come on, go, let’s go, this race isn’t finished’. In that moment, you don’t really think, you don’t care to be honest as well.
“You just continue and you deal with the consequences later.”
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
The race would further hinge on a red flag just laps after Hulkenberg had triggered the virtual safety car as a deluge of rain and Franco Colapinto’s crash under safety car conditions left race control with no alternative.
Having made it to the pits under the red flags before being told of his disqualification, Hulkenberg dealt with the worst of the weather and insisted: “Definitely amongst the toughest conditions that I’ve raced in.
“Incredibly low grip, a very, very narrow window, very hard to make no mistakes. It was very tough.”
