– A technical defect in the sprint, a hectic engine change, and in the end, elimination in Q2: For Nico Hülkenberg, Saturday at the Dutch Grand Prix went anything but according to plan. While Audi teammate Gabriel Bortoleto shone with ninth place on the grid, the German had to settle for 13th in qualifying for the main race on Sunday.
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The foundation for the difficult qualifying was already laid in the morning. In the sprint, Hülkenberg was done after just five laps: After a loss of power, the German was called to the pits via radio to retire the car early – the only retirement of the entire sprint race.
The qualifying analysis live on YouTube
Audi shortly thereafter confirmed a “power problem” that still needed to be investigated more closely. Hülkenberg himself speculated after rolling out: “I didn’t have full power. Obviously some kind of problem. Let’s see what was going on.” He also said: “The problem was there from the start.”
“0.0 caution” despite engine change
The Audi mechanics did a great job before qualifying and replaced the engine. However, for the veteran, playing it safe or holding back was out of the question afterwards. “As a driver, you go into qualifying with 0.0 caution, visor down and everything you’ve got,” the German told Sky.
The start initially went promisingly. In Q1, Hülkenberg was eleventh, practically on par with Bortoleto, who was tenth; the gap of the two Audi drivers to the top was just about five hundredths of a second.
In Q2, however, the thread broke. Hülkenberg missed the jump into the top ten by 0.364 seconds compared to Bortoleto and ended up in 13th place. This put him among the group of drivers who had to bow out early: Liam Lawson (eleventh in the Red Bull), Yuki Tsunoda (twelfth in the Racing Bulls), Franco Colapinto (14th in the Alpine), Esteban Ocon (15th in the Haas), and Alexander Albon (16th in the Williams).
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Gust of wind in turn 1 costs Q3 entry
“Not super satisfied, not super disappointed. Not the easiest and most rounded weekend so far,” Hülkenberg gave a sobering summary. The sprint qualifying the day before had already raised questions: “Yesterday in the sprint qualifying, something always happened that was completely inexplicable or strange. Sometimes there are these mysterious stories that you really can’t clarify.”
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In the crucial Q2 attempt, the perfect lap was simply missing: “At least the feeling in the car was better again, restored. But unfortunately, I had a little twitch exiting turn 1. There is quite a lot of tailwind there, and it made life a bit difficult for me.”
Asked about the difficult weekend, the Audi driver said: “Qualifying was the first reasonable attempt today. It was a bit better, but still a challenge. It wasn’t the easiest.”
However, in Zandvoort, the perfect feeling in the car is decisive: “Zandvoort is a big rhythm and confidence track,” Hülkenberg said. It wasn’t ideal enough. Here and there, the small things were missing, but in the end, that makes the difference.”
Bortoleto at the maximum: “Ninth place was everything”
Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto was noticeably more satisfied, placing the Audi in the fourth row with ninth place. “Ninth place was everything today, more simply wasn’t possible,” the Brazilian explained to Sky, who had to nervously wait to advance in Q1 after his own driving error.
Looking ahead to the Grand Prix, the rookie expects an exciting race on the North Sea coast: “Tire wear didn’t look too bad in the sprint. But on a track like this, there are always opportunities – especially in this weather. It started raining heavily in the last lap, and it can get very unpredictable here very quickly.”
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