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F1 European GP: First corner bump forces Hulkenberg to play catch up

Nico Hulkenberg feels his whole Grand Prix of Europe was compromised by a turn one shunt which dropped him down the order which resulted in his underwhelming ninth place.

The Force India driver says he produced an ideal blast off the line and felt he could have picked up a couple of places from 12th on the grid but a bump from behind at turn one saw him tumble down to 14th.

With slower cars blocking his path on the tight and twisty parts of the Baku street circuit Hulkenberg's progress was hampered which was the ultimate reason for his ninth place finish while team-mate Sergio Perez grabbed a rostrum result.

"A tricky old race," Hulkenberg summarised. "The start was actually quite good. I think I would have had one, two positions, but then I got hit in the back into turn one. I am not sure who it was.

"I avoided a spin but it made me lose a couple of positions. And I think I was back to 14th at the exit of turn one.

"From there onwards I had to go through traffic, and lost a lot of time there initially. I used a lot of tyres for that, and that made it quite difficult.

"We had to take the risks, drop off the softs early and go to the super softs for 30, 31 laps. It was a big ask. We knew it was a bit of a risk, but I was happy to take it at the time. Our pace was good all weekend. But if you make mistakes you pay for it."

Hulkenberg also paid tribute to Porsche who claimed a dramatic late victory at Le Mans 24 Hours after the leading Toyota broke down with four minutes remaining.

The German driver claimed a sensational Le Mans victory 12 months ago with Porsche and was pleased to see them retain their crown with Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas.

Zdroj: crash.net