Nico Hulkenberg has called for the FIA to clamp down on ‘not really sporting’ tactics deployed by teams during the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
The German driver was caught up in an incident after the race restart last weekend in the principality, coming into contact with Carlos Sainz, for which he was handed a 10-second penalty.
A bottleneck formed after it appeared that George Russell was attempting to bunch up the cars behind him, thinking ahead of serving his own time penalty, having failed to do serve it prior to the red flag triggered by Charles Leclerc’s crash.
Speaking to media, including Motorsport Week, ahead of this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Hulkenberg stated that he found it a “bit weird” to be handed the penalty, proportioning some blame to Sainz.
“Well, of course, I watched the replay,” he said. “For me, you know, it all starts obviously with George backing up the whole field, trying to create a gap for his penalty, which obviously creates a mess and chaos.
“And especially in Monaco, you know, cars are tripping over each other. Coming out of Mirabeau, I had Fernando [Alonso] on my right on the inside. Esteban [Ocon] was fighting some other car. And then I’m looking left, right, left, right. And I have to avoid Esteban all of a sudden. That’s why I ended up on the inside in the first place.
“But then also, I feel that Carlos is also on the outside. He knows we’re all bunched up. He cuts back, you know, quite a lot.I think he could have also saved himself by staying a bit wider.
“He didn’t need to cut back like that. But, you know, at the end of the day, it’s Lap 1.
“You have a car bunching up ten other cars. So, you know, things do get tight and happens in racing, especially in Lap 1 in Monaco.
“[What is a] Bit weird for me is that it was just, you know, immediately handed out the penalty and that it was not even investigated or that we needed to go and speak or explain to the stewards as it usually is.
“So, that was, yeah, a bit disappointing obviously for us.”
Nico Hulkenberg hopes for ban on ‘painful’ F1 team games in Monaco GP
Last year’s Monaco Grand Prix saw a flurry of intra-team strategies which saw one attempt to bunch up the field in order to help the faster teammate gain an advantage.
Hulkenberg was on course for ninth, but his penalty saw him dropped back in the classification to 13th, and when asked if he could take satisfaction from the overall performance, the veteran rued what he viewed as Williams’ use of this particular tactic.
“Yeah, I think in the race we did what we could,” he said. “I mean, obviously, we were stuck behind two Williams, unfortunately, who did their thing.
“And I think, for Monaco going forward, the FIA should come up with some sort of a rule that this backing-up strategy is not allowed anymore, because it’s just painful. It’s not really sporting-wise.
“Now, as it was Sunday, obviously, there was nothing wrong with that and any team would have done exactly the same. But I feel going forward it should be, if possible, avoided.”
Hulkenberg will be hoping to match his points-scoring result in Barcelona from 2025, as Audi continues to show impressive form in its debut year in the sport.
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