“It was obviously stupid between Kevin and Checo,” Hulkenberg told Sky Germany.
“I don’t know if Checo saw Kevin. Checo could have left space. At the same time, I think Kevin was also very optimistic about staying on there, where the track gets narrower and there are little kinks up to Turn 3.”
Expanding to the written press, the German said: “I think unnecessary from both really, it could have been avoided easily.
“Obviously, for me, who wasn’t directly involved, it’s the shittiest of all. I missed it probably by two-tenths.
“If I would have been two times further up the road, he would have missed me. I’m gutted and disappointed because everyone in the team, we all invest a lot of energy and time and it’s just frustrating.”
Debris on the track as marshals wave the red flags due to an opening lap crash
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Asked by Autosport if he had sympathy for Magnussen going for such a small gap on a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult, he replied: “Yeah, of course, but nobody has won the Monaco Grand Prix on lap one. So, you have to take calculated risk and risks that makes sense…
“It’s always that risk-reward question that you have to [answer] yourself.”
Magnussen said he expected Perez to leave more space as the curve of the road meant the Dane’s gap on the right-hand side was naturally starting to close.
“Well, he clearly wasn’t leaving space that I thought he would,” he argued. “I had a good part of my front end, my whole front wheel was ahead of his rear wheel.
“So, I did expect him to be leaving room for one car on his right, especially since he didn’t have anyone on his inside. On his left, there was a completely clear track. So he just squeezed me into the wall.”
“It’s not good to see both cars in one crash. It sucks. It’s a shitty, shitty situation.”
Magnussen is just two penalty points away from a one-race ban but escaped sanction after the FIA stewards deemed the clash a racing incident, saying he “would have been very surprised” if he had been penalised for the contact.
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