"Magnussen was nowhere near him": Nico Hulkenberg has justified his selection at Haas
F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm mentioned that Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg impressed with his P7 drive during the F1 Australian GP in Melbourne at the Albert Park Circuit on Sunday (April 2).
Since his return to the sport in Bahrain, the German has qualified in the Top 10 each time but was unable to convert that into points finishes in the first two races. However, in Melbourne, Hulkenberg showed that Haas made the right choice by choosing him to pair alongside Kevin Magnussen for 2023.
While appearing on The Race podcast, Mitchell-Malm stated that Magnussen could not match the pace of his teammate, saying:
"I think he showed in Bahrain weekend that he proved when Kevin Magnussen was going missing a little bit at the start of the year and arguably still was this weekend, miles off in qualifying and losing a massive chunk of time in the high-speed bits in the final sector just having to have so many confidence lifts and dabs of the brakes whereas Hulkenberg doesn't."
"Magnussen's nowhere near him over one lap when you have the car right on the edge. Then in the race, Hulkenberg raced brilliantly inside the points, and Magnussen was a frustrated midfield runner, didn't quite go his way, and then running in clear air he lost it."
“It was a crazy race, so many things happened, so many different scenarios” - Nico Hulkenberg
While analyzing his race, Nico Hulkenberg mentioned that it was a crazy experience for him given all the chaos around him. Speaking to Motorsport.com, he said:
“It was a crazy race, so many things happened, so many different scenarios. Obviously, at the red flag, we got a free stop, it kind of played into our hands. Then I had a pretty lonely race just following the top guys, then defending against Lando, I struggled a little bit with the tires, I couldn't defend my position, unfortunately."
Nico Hulkenberg continued:
“It was kind of in control for P9 or maybe P10. Then the red flags came about again, and everything started to heat up again and spiral a bit crazy. But good start practice for me, and they were all very good. The last one I actually came from P8 through to P4."
"I managed to stay clean and wasn't involved in any incidents. So that was nice, but unfortunately, they red-flagged it very soon after that, so we couldn't bring that home. Nevertheless, I think a lot of positives to take. We were competitive once again."
It will be fascinating to see if Nico Hulkenberg can finish higher than his teammate throughout the course of the season.