Nico Hulkenberg said he missed out on the final point because he backed off more than his rivals did in reaction to the crash on the penultimate lap of the race.
The Haas driver was running in 10th place ahead of Franco Colapinto, Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman on lap 49. He was then passed by Colapinto.
Ahead of them, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Sergio Perez collided on the straight between turns two and three. Both cars came to a stop against the barrier.
The crash scene was covered by yellow flags for a minute before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. During that time Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Bearman passed by the two crashed cars.
After they passed the crash scene, Hamilton and Bearman overtook Hulkenberg. The Haas driver said the crash scene looked so serious he thought the race might be red-flagged, and he slowed down more than his rivals.
“It was all going actually pretty good,” he told the official F1 channel. “Better than expected, to be honest. I managed to find rhythm and some pace today in the race, which I’m very happy and pleased about and proud.
“But then unfortunately, in the last two laps, faced some issues, faced some trouble, and then with the accident at the end as well, I got caught off-guard because for me that was a straight Safety Car or even a red flag because it was real carnage down the straight. But then there was a green flag and I just lost positions then there and lost the result, unfortunately.”
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Although Hulkenberg briefly moved up to ninth by passing the two crashed cars, when Hamilton and Bearman came by he fell to 11th.
Hulkenberg thought his car might have been damaged when he drove through the crash scene before the VSC was deployed.
“The whole track was covered and I ran over a massive – there was a lot of debris and big stuff and I hit something quite big,” he said. “I couldn’t see because I had a car right in front of me.
“I hit something and I wasn’t sure where my front wing was, to be honest. It was quite a big bang. Pretty crazy two last laps, but not in our favour.”
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