How Nico Hulkenberg avoided a huge crash with his Audi F1 team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto at Dutch GP
Nico Hulkenberg explains how he avoided crashing into Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto at Zandvoort.
Nico Hulkenberg has explained how he avoided a massive crash with his Audi Formula 1 team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto at the Dutch Grand Prix.
In a dramatic opening lap of Sunday’s race at Zandvoort, Hulkenberg had to have his wits about him when Bortoleto spun in front of him at the final, banked corner in damp conditions.
Bortoleto completed a 360-degree spin and ended up briefly stationary in the middle of the track. Hulkenberg was directly behind his team-mate but was able to avoid T-boning the Brazilian with a last-gasp swerve.
Hulkenberg said he reacted instinctively to avoid a direct collision with Bortoleto.
“It was scary, sketchy. You’re a passenger,” Hulkenberg said.
"I tried to react as late as possible and then just instinctively chose a side. Obviously I was waiting to see if he was going to slide up or down, on a wet track it's sketchy and difficult. Luckily we managed to avoid that.”
Bortoleto suggested he was caught out after reacting to Max Verstappen’s huge crash ahead of him.
“I just saw big smoke coming out,” he explained. “I think it was Max that crashed and then I maybe made a small reaction on the steering. But I just felt something and then I also lost the car. I did a 360, came back.”
Hulkenberg would go on to score four points for Audi by finishing eighth. Bortoleto came home 13th in the final order.
"Super important for the team and the championship, but for the mood, it gives everyone a lift," Hulkenberg said as he reflected on the result at Zandvoort.
"It confirms the work that we've put in, that we're in the right direction. Very pleased about it, also for me personally, it wasn't the easiest weekend Saturday and Friday.
“Feels very nice and sweet to come away with something at the end and on a good note.”
It marked the fourth consecutive race that Audi has scored points.
The German manufacturer remains eighth in the constructors’ championship but has now pulled five points clear of Williams, and closed to within five points of seventh-placed Haas.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
