Abiteboul: Hulkenberg does not usually make mistakes like that

Monday, 27 August 2018 at 19:21

Cyril Abiteboul believes Nico Hulkenberg will move on from the huge first turn, first lap crash he triggered at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, the Renault chief pointing out, somewhat erroneously, that the German seldom makes such errors.

But in truth, Speedweek reports, stats show that Hulkenberg in his 148 grand prix starts has been involved in no fewer than ten first lap shunts that ended in DNF for him.

In the history of the sport, only four F1 drivers have crashed out of the race on the opening lap more times than Hulkenberg, they are: Jarno Trulli (14), Rubens Barrichello (13), Andrea de Cesaris (12) and Kimi Raikkonen (11).

As a result of DNFs the Renault driver has covered the least race mileage so far this season, with 2,806 km on his odometer compared to Charles Leclerc, with the next least racing distance on 3066 km.

After the nasty incident at Spa on Sunday, Hulkenberg acknowledged his mistake and explained, "When I hit the brakes, it locked up the front wheels and I slid."

"These cars are aerodynamically sensitive, especially with cars bunching up ahead as you lose a lot of grip and load. I have to admit it caught me by surprise."

"It was probably a misjudgement from my side as I was a bit late on the brakes, so it’s frustrating for me, the team, and the other drivers caught up in the incident. That’s racing and unfortunately, these things happen."

"We have Monza next weekend, so I want to get this out of the system as soon as possible and focus on that," added the German.