Why did Hulkenberg fall out of the points on the last lap in Baku?

A bittersweet feeling at Haas, at the finish of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Sweet, because Oliver Bearman scored a point for his first appearance with the American team, he who will be a starter in 2025. Bitter, because Nico Hulkenberg was in contention to score bigger points, and collapsed in the final laps of the race. Unfortunately, the German fell out of the points in the final kilometers, despite gaining two places following the accident between Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz in the last loop.

At the start of the 49th lap, however, the future Sauber-Audi driver was in 10th position with a "comfortable" lead of three seconds over Franco Colapinto, who was not making up any time. But within a lap, this gap had disappeared and the Argentinian was able to easily overtake him on the long start-finish straight. Then, on the last lap, Nico Hülkenberg could have taken advantage of the accident between the Red Bull and Classic Ferrari for sale to get back into the points… but he was eventually overtaken one after the other by Oliver Bearman and Lewis Hamilton, to finally finish 11th in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hulkenberg thought the race would be interrupted

A disappointment for the 37-year-old driver who was driving a clean race but collapsed in the final laps. The German explained the reason for these last three laborious laps, he who was expecting a race interruption after the crash between Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz. The stewards had finally decided to deploy a Virtual Safety Car to finish the race.

“Everything was going pretty well, better than expected, to be honest. We managed to find some rhythm, which I’m very happy about. Unfortunately, in the last few laps I was faced with some problems and, with the crash at the end, I was caught off guard.”, regrets Nico Hülkenberg, who slowed down too much on the last lap thinking that the race would be neutralized and who was taken over by Oliver Bearman and Lewis Hamilton.

"For me, the safety car or even a red flag should have been deployed, because there was real carnage on the straight. But instead there was a green flag, I lost positions at that point and unfortunately I lost the result., explains the Haas driver. The whole track was covered in debris, and I ran over a huge chunk that I couldn't see because of a car in front of me. The last two laps were pretty crazy, but unfortunately not in our favor..."

From a potential 8th place to a finish outside the points, it is with a slight feeling of frustration that Nico Hülkenberg leaves Baku. Without his various misadventures at the end of the race, he could have scored four points and brought Haas just two points behind Racing Bulls in the Constructors' Championship. While Oliver Bearman saved the American team's record, the latter ultimately finds itself five points behind the Italian clan. When you know the value of points in the middle of the table this season, behind the untouchable Top Teams, you can tell that the missed opportunity could cost dearly at the end of the championship...

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