Amidst the carnage of the Australian Grand Prix, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg still managed to cross the line in P7, giving the team their best result since Austria last year when Mick Schumacher finished P6.
‘The Hulk’s’ return to the Formula 1 grid was somewhat surprising to F1 fans given he’d been out of a full-time drive since the end of 2019. Nevertheless, a shaky start to the season still puts the German ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen in the drivers’ standings.
Finishing P7, the German scored six points putting Haas in seventh in the constructors standings, and after a successful race here’s what the Hulkenberg had to say: “We were running a solid race, I think we were P7 or P8 for most of the race.
“I couldn’t quite fight off Norris, you know, we had too much tyre degradation.
“Nevertheless, a solid effort and a lot of positives again.”
The veteran still had to put up a fight however, when Lando Norris had his sights set on the German’s P8. For most of the race the Haas driver managed to keep the Brit at bay but on lap 52 saw the Mclaren dive down his inside at turn 14, forcing him off the track and momentarily going through the gravel.
Norris voiced his disapproval of Hulkenberg’s weaving at some points during their battle and questioned the fairness of them, to which the German responded: “Yeah, don’t know what he’s talking about, we need to review that.
“But I think the race director didn’t say anything, so it seems all within limits.”
Having leapfrogged Alfa Romeo in the constructors standing thanks to Hulkenberg’s P7 in Australia,
Haas find themselves one point behind Alpine who are in sixth.
Otmar Szafnauer hoped Alpines season would’ve gotten off to a better start and with the next race at Baku quickly approaching, Haas will have their sights set on getting the better of the French-owned squad.
