Nico Hulkenberg has crashed out of the Qatar Grand Prix after a collision with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly on the seventh lap.
Because the German driver tried to move Gasly across the outdoors at Flip 2, the pair made contact, sending Hulkenberg spinning by way of the gravel earlier than he got here to a cease.
Hulkenberg had began the race from eleventh place on the grid and was operating in tenth on the time of the crash. Whereas chatting with the media following qualifying, the Sauber driver did not count on many overtakes through the race because of the lack of alternatives on the Losail Worldwide Circuit.
“No, I feel it can make it very static,” he stated. “We noticed this morning, no tyre deg, little or no racing motion. The cornering speeds are a bit too quick. I imply, it is actually enjoyable to drive in quali and, you already know, very thrilling, excessive velocity, excessive G-forces, however it’s not essentially the most, you already know, racing-friendly circuit, for instance.”
With the security automotive deployed, race chief Oscar Piastri and his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris stayed out however Max Verstappen, who was operating in second on the time, determined to pit together with the remaining drivers.
“This has labored out horribly for McLaren. These behind have pitted and so they haven’t,” former Method 1 driver and Sky Sports activities F1 commentator Martin Brundle stated. He later added: “Keep tuned to this race, all people. It feels to me as if McLaren have missed a trick!”
Drivers are restricted to a most of 25 laps on a set of tyres through the Qatar Grand Prix.
“We must always have simply adopted him in, no? If we knew the automotive forward was staying out,” Norris requested his race engineer Will Joseph, who defined: “They’ve misplaced all flexibility for the rest of the race.”
One cause why the Woking outfit could have determined to not pit both Piastri or Norris may very well be to keep away from disadvantaging one over the opposite. A double stack would have put Norris at a drawback and pulling in a single and never the opposite would have been a transparent differentiation in technique.
Pictures from Qatar GP – Race
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
Qatar GP – Sunday, in photographs
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