Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg compares Australian GP to LEGENDARY race

Last weekend's race was an epic, with three red flags and multiple safety cars

Chris Deeley

Wednesday 5 April 2023 11:45

Nico Hulkenberg has jokingly compared the weekend's chaotic Australian Grand Prix to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans after a series of red flags saw him in the car for well over the standard two-hour run time of a Formula 1 race.

The German driver picked up his first points of the season in Melbourne, but experienced a rollercoaster of emotions as he briefly looked to be up in fourth place after the second restart – only for the running order to be shuffled back to the status quo, sending him back to seventh.

"It was very eventful obviously," he said. "Very long, reminds me a bit of Le Mans where you’re almost three hours in the car. I didn’t get out during the red flag, so it was almost I think close to three hours inside the cockpit. Felt like a long time. Overall obviously happy to score the first points of the season."

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Hulkenberg hasn't been a regular fixture on the grid since 2019, only making a handful of appearances in 2020 and 2022 to replace Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel when they each tested positive for Covid-19.

Looking at the upsides

The points scored in Melbourne are the German's first since the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020, and constitute six of the seven that the Haas team have scored this season.

“I mean, it was wild and a bit messy at times,” said Hulkenberg. “I had a super start I think it was the third time around on softs and came through to P4, actually. A shame that there were a few incidents and they red-flagged it, otherwise it could have been a really strong result.

“But even before that, you know I think we would have come home in P9 which is obviously not as good as well P7 or P4 or something, but still a lot of positive learnings again, and I take a lot of positives out of this race and forward."

One positive to take is that, for the second time in three races this season, Hulkenberg made it into the final part of qualifying – starting in the top 10 in all three events thanks to a penalty to Charles Leclerc in Jeddah. That sustained performance over one lap suggests more may be yet to come.