“I had a code brown in that moment”: Nico Hulkenberg talks about ‘nightmare scenario’ in the Australian F1 GP

Nico Hulkenberg reflected on his 'nightmare scenario' at the 2023 Australian GP when he narrowly avoided colliding with Alex Albon. Albon was caught out by a curb following late into the race, leading to a brilliant dodge from Hulkenberg.

Tom Bellingham

@TomP1Bellingham

Of all the close calls to a Nico Hulkenberg podium this was the closest surely. If they’d made it to Sector 2 or Gasly hadn’t collided with Ocon, he’d have been in P3 once Sainz’s penalty had hit 🤯

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Of all the close calls to a Nico Hulkenberg podium this was the closest surely. If they’d made it to Sector 2 or Gasly hadn’t collided with Ocon, he’d have been in P3 once Sainz’s penalty had hit 🤯

While in sixth place, Albon spun at high speed and hit a barrier, causing his car to roll towards the edge of the track. Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg, the first drivers to arrive at the scene, had very little warning and narrowly avoided colliding with Albon's damaged car while passing by at full speed. Nico Hulkenberg acknowledged that he had a close call partly due to the dust created by the gravel trap.

The Haas driver said:

"Holy moly, I mean seriously I had a code brown in that moment. That was seriously scary. I mean, thank God nothing happened. But this is a nightmare scenario. You've come around a blind corner in a street circuit. I mean, that was seriously scary and sketchy. That's a bad example of a driver losing the car, crashing and coming back onto the track, and because there's a gravel trap, there was dust, so you could not really see much."

Nico Hulkenberg reflected on his three years away from the sport

After being a part of the sport for a long time, Nico Hulkenberg admits it was difficult to watch from the sidelines. He lost his seat at Renault to Esteban Ocon for the 2020 F1 season, and although there was an offer on the table from Haas, the German driver decided to step back from racing.

Despite this, Hulkenberg made some impressive appearances as a super sub, scoring points in two out of the three races he participated in and qualifying in the top three in one of them. He also impressed in his two substitute appearances for Sebastian Vettel with Aston Martin in 2022.

Nico Hulkenberg said:

“Yeah, there were certainly… that feeling is a bit in waves; some weeks it was more, some weeks it was less. Right at the beginning, in 2020, it was kind of… I wanted some time away, I needed some time away, so at that point I was pretty relaxed. Then suddenly, in 2021, there were weeks when it was harder to stand on the sidelines and watch drivers go out of the garage."

The German driver currently leads his teammate Kevin Magnussen in the 2023 drivers' standings and is proving his worth to the American team with stellar performances.

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