Two mistakes by a “nervous” Nico Hulkenberg on the finish line helped Formula 1 rookie drivers Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, in addition to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, suffer unexpected incidents at the tip of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
By maintaining a high pace and using the medium tyres within the opening stage of the race on Sunday, Hulkenberg eventually received a team order to pass temporary team-mate Bearman, and his impressive tyre management on the hard tyres later within the race saw him split the pair of Williamses who had began on the front and battle for tenth place.
However, on lap 48, Hulkenberg clipped the approach wall to Turn 15 and after feeling he had a puncture, which Haas couldn’t see of their data, and a few doubts in regards to the engine mode at that stage, a general lack of momentum saw Colapinto lose the lead again together with his Williams within the lead at Turn 3 on the next lap.
In the identical spot, just after Perez and Sainz's crash, Hulkenberg didn’t react in time to the green flag just behind the collision and was attacked by Hamilton and Bearman.
Watch: McLaren In Charge – Azerbaijan F1 GP Analysis
The incident with the wall ultimately cost Haas eighth place, given what happened between Perez and Sainz and the highest ten places they lost, although Bearman managed to secure the ultimate point by overtaking Hulkenberg.
At this point, Komatsu told Autosport/Motorsport.com that “after [the] yellow, [Hulkenberg] he hit something that upset him and the yellow driver ended the race before turn three.
“He said something like, ‘it should have been a safety car’, just completely nervous, and then Hamilton and Ollie just went through.”
Asked if Haas was surprised that race officials took so long to activate the virtual safety automobile, or even when the team thought the race can be stopped, Komatsu replied: “I thought it would be red.”
“But honestly, it’s the same mistake Nico made. I was like, ‘This should be red.’ It was like, ‘Yeah, it should be, but whatever I think it should be doesn’t matter, we just have to fucking focus on what’s in front of us.’”
“Nico thinks it should be a safety car. Yes, fine, but now I'm just focused on [was the better thing to do].”
Speaking to the media crew afterwards, Hulkenberg alluded to how “everything that could go wrong did go wrong” in those incidents, “and we lost everything.”
“It was very disappointing and frustrating,” he added. “Unfortunately, we have to take it as it is, wipe our mouths and move on in a few days.”
He later said that the race on the track he hated “actually went better than I expected” as he “managed to find the rhythm and the pace, which I'm very happy and pleased with” – considering Bearman beat him by 0.223s and three places in qualifying in Baku.
“The crash at the end caught me by surprise,” Hulkenberg explained. “For me it was a security automobile, even a red flag, because there was real carnage on the straight.
“Instead there was a green flag, I lost positions there and unfortunately I lost the result.
“The whole track was covered in rubble and I went over an enormous section that I couldn’t see because there was a automobile in front of me.
“It was a crazy last two laps, but unfortunately not in our favor.”
