Hulkenberg makes unusual claim about F1 marshals after disqualification

Nico Hulkenberg has claimed that F1 marshals were “partying” after assisting his stricken Haas in the Sao Paulo GP, leading to his disqualification. 

Hulkenberg became the first F1 driver to be disqualified in-race since Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2007 Canadian GP after marshals helped to free his Haas after it became stuck on a drain at Interlagos. 

This is a slam-dunk DSQ as the German received outside assistance, something strictly prohibited in the rules after spinning off at Turn 1 moments before the safety car was thrown for increasing Interlagos rain. 

Reflecting on the unusual punishment, Hulkenberg claimed the marshals were “really happy with themselves.”

“We were going okay, it wasn’t dreadful but wasn’t amazing either, but just after a pit-stop, our race finished pretty quickly,” Hulkenberg told media including RacingNews365.

“[The marshals] came out, they pushed me off and they were really happy with themselves, they were partying and pushing me on and saying: ‘Come on, let’s go, the race isn’t finished!’.

“At that moment, you don’t really think, you don’t care, you just continue and deal with the consequences later.”

A “dark” weekend

Haas suffered a bad weekend in Sao Paulo, with a point-less return as Ollie Bearman, deputising for the ill Kevin Magnussen struggled in the difficult conditions, with the team also being overtaken by Alpine for sixth in the constructors’ following its double podium finish. 

Hulkenberg felt the weekend was a “dark” one for the team.

“It was among the toughest conditions I’ve had in racing, there was incredibly low grip and a very, very narrow window,” he said. 

“It was very hard not to make mistakes.

“We just need to reset, it was a really dark weekend for us, and we made lots of bad calls for one reason or another, but we just need to recover.”