Nico Hulkenberg revealed he deliberately allowed Sergio Perez to overtake him on the final lap knowing he’d be able to repass him.
The Haas said he allowed the Red Bull driver to pass him after making a mistake at the exit of the last corner as they began their final lap. By reclaiming the place Hulkenberg scored the team’s best result since the same race two years ago.
The exchange occured as Perez hunted Hulkenberg down over the final laps. The Red Bull driver suffered sidepod damage from contact with Oscar Piastri at turn four on the opening lap, later describing his sidepod as being “completely destroyed” from the collision. Over the closing laps Perez, on softer tyres than his rival, gained on the Haas driver and came within DRS range.
At the end of the penultimate lap Hulkenberg touched the gravel at the final corner, allowing Perez to close. The Red Bull driver passed Hulkenberg into turn three, but the Haas took advantage of a slipstream and DRS down the run to turn four to sweep back down the outside of the Red Bull.
Hulkenberg held on to claim the position by half a second. He wasn’t close enough to Verstappen to gain advantage of the other Red Bull driver’s 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lando Norris. However, Hulkenberg described his run from ninth on the grid to sixth as a “hell of a race” for him and his team.
“Especially at the end, it got so intense,” he told the official F1 channel. “But I think it was intense at the front too with Max and Lando – so it was happening everywhere!”
“It was touch and go. I was really pushing hard to keep Checo behind, but the last two laps, my tyres were kind of really done with it. I almost lost the car completely out of turn ten in a big way, went onto the gravel a bit and then had a big tank-slapper.
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“Into [turn] three, I let him edge in front, so I could have DRS for the next straight, which obviously put me back in front. Luckily it was the final lap, because I would have not survived another lap.”
It was Hulkenberg’s fifth top ten finish over the first 11 rounds of the championship and his best result for Haas since joining them in 2023. Team mate Kevin Magnussen also scored points in eighth. Hulkenberg admitted he had not expected the team to enjoy such a strong result at the Red Bull Ring.
“I’m very happy,” Hulkenberg said. “Double points for the team and in a big way. I…
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