Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg has revealed that the marshals who assisted him during the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix were “partying” afterwards.
The German driver spun off the Interlagos circuit in tricky conditions which brought out the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 28 of the race.
Hulkenberg had ended up on a crest off the track with his rear wheels in the air, needing assistance from the marshals to move his car.
However, once the 37-year-old was freed, he continued back onto the track thus resulting in his disqualification from the race for receiving assistance from the marshals.
The Haas driver found out whilst the race was paused due to a red flag brought out by Franco Colapinto’s crash amid the extremely wet conditions.
Reflecting on his race, he said: “I think it was going OK on the inters actually; I was in a train with Pierre [Gasly] and Fernando [Alonso] for a long time, before we pitted,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“So I think we were going OK – it wasn’t dreadful, but it wasn’t amazing either.
“Just after the pitstop, our race somehow… obviously it finished pretty quickly and it all went south from there.”
On the incident, he added: “They [the marshals] came out, they pushed me off and they were really happy with themselves.
“They were partying and pushing me on and saying, ‘come on, go, let’s go, this race isn’t finished’.
“In that moment, you don’t really think, you don’t care to be honest as well, you just continue and you deal with the consequences later.”
Haas drivers struggle in wet weather race
Hulkenberg’s team-mate for the weekend was Oliver Bearman after he replaced Kevin Magnussen for the weekend because the Danish driver had food poisoning.
Bearman, who will race for the American outfit full-time in 2025, finished 12th after struggling to keep his car on the circuit.
The British youngster spun off the track and made contact with the rear of Colapinto’s car during the race as he complained about visibility.
To his engineer Mark Slade, he said that he couldn’t even see his steering wheel and that he was “trying not to die.”
After the race, Hulkenberg also commented on the difficulty of racing in those conditions.
He added: “Definitely amongst the toughest conditions that I’ve raced in.
“Incredibly low grip, a very, very narrow window, very hard to make no mistakes, It was very tough.”
Haas is now seventh in the Constructors’ Standings after Alpine achieved a double podium finish to be three points ahead.
RB is also close behind by two points in a tense midfield battle that is set to continue at the next race in Las Vegas.
READ MORE – Nico Hulkenberg: Haas will become a ‘serious competitor’ in F1
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