"All these crybabies here with the traffic": Nico Hulkenberg rages at Charles Leclerc during the F1 Austrian GP practice
Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg did not hold back while criticizing Charles Leclerc for a potentially dangerous maneuver on him during the 2024 Austrian GP FP1 session. The German driver found himself blocking the fast-approaching Ferrari during the only practice session of the weekend as he was a bit late in moving out of the way.
Leclerc was blocked by the 36-year-old in the early part of the session and did not appreciate the latter running on the racing line down to Turn 4.
The Ferrari driver was quick to let his feelings known to the Haas driver as he sharply cut across Hulkenberg, a move similar to his FP3 incident with Lando Norris in Spain last weekend.
Nico Hulkenberg initially accepted his mistake and took to his team radio and said:
"I aborted but I didn't know that the Ferrari was on a lap."
But approaching the swooping Turn 5, he came alongside Charles Leclerc and let his feelings known on the 26-year-old's move, saying:
"All these crybabies here with the traffic."
Nico Hulkenberg previews the Austrian GP this weekend.
Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg called the Red Bull Ring a 'short' and 'fun' track heading into the Sprint weekend in Austria.
Last year, the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint weekend was one of the highlights of the season for the German driver, as he found himself in P2 in the Sprint race in the changing conditions ahead of Sergio Perez. He came home P6 in the Sprint and finished ahead of the likes of George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
Before the 2024 edition, Nico Hulkenberg previewed the weekend and said (via PitPass):
"It's a short track that packs in a lot of fun. The length of the circuit means it bunches us all up over qualifying, which is a challenge, but we have two opportunities as it's a Sprint.
"Last year I scored points around the Red Bull Ring, so I know it can be done, and we want to be back scoring points, so that's the mission this weekend."
Hulkenberg's teammate Kevin Magnussen shared the German's feelings about the track, saying:
"It's a fun track; I've got some good memories from the Red Bull Ring, that's where we've had our best team result so I'm looking forward to going there again. We have quite an efficient car so hopefully, with our good straight-line speed, we can be good there.
"There's still a fair number of high-speed corners, which is perhaps not our strength, but we seem to be pretty consistently good at most tracks. I'm just looking forward to a fun Sprint weekend."
Nico Hulkenberg has scored the majority of the team's points in the 2024 season, as he sits in P14 in the Driver's Championship with six points in ten races and two Sprints, as compared to Magnussen's one.