Red Bull driver Max Verstappen will feel that he was prevented from winning an eighth Grand Prix of the season in Austria due to his contact with Lando Norris.
However, the McLaren driver will feel the same way after clearly being quicker in the final stint than the triple world champion before they made contact and both missed out.
Max Verstappen could have been told before their collision that Lando Norris had just picked up a five-second penalty, which would have allowed him to let him through to simply follow him all the way to the chequered flag.
Unfortunately, that’s not how the race panned out and it was Mercedes star George Russell who was in position to pick up the pieces.
However, there was another driver who after the race believed that at one point they were potentially the fastest person on the track.
Speaking to Sky Sports Deutschland after the race, Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg was revelling in a phenomenal weekend for the American team.
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He recorded his best finish since the 2019 season, coming home in 6 ahead of Sergio Perez after a tense battle on the final lap.
His teammate Kevin Magnussen joined him in the points and Ayao Komatsu’s team extended their lead over Alpine, Williams and Sauber in the Constructors’ Championship.
Hulkenberg has now admitted that at points during the Austrian Grand Prix, he believed he was even faster than Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman didn’t disagree and at one point was worried about the German when speaking on the team radio.
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Nico Hulkenberg believes he was faster than Max Verstappen at times during the Austrian Grand Prix
Talking about the laps he spent behind Verstappen following his second pit stop, Hulkenberg said: “I had just come out of the pits and had new tyres and he was already well advanced in his stint.
“That shows how much the tyres make a difference. I was able to keep up in the corners and still save my tyres.
“He always gave me DRS and basically pulled me around the track. Without him, I think I could have driven a bit faster, but it worked out well anyway.
“It was fun to feel like I was driving in P2. It was good for the feeling too.”
Verstappen admitted on the radio when Hulkenberg was behind him after his pit stop, “I can’t hold this much longer mate, behind,” referring to the 36-year-old when he was on fresh tyres.
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Haas had the perfect weekend to secure their place in Formula 1’s midfield
After the Spanish Grand Prix, Haas may have been slightly disappointed not to have added to their points tally.
For the fifth time this season, Hulkenberg finished 11 and narrowly missed out on a fifth points finish of the campaign.
The Red Bull Racing suited Haas’s car and Magnussen narrowly missed out on a top-eight finish in the Sprint Race, leapfrogging both Alpine drivers and finishing less than ten seconds behind Sergio Perez.
Haas then perfected their car’s set-up before qualifying and Hulkenberg was keeping up with Verstappen when he was on fresh tyres, with the Dutchman impressed with the Haas’s drivers performance after the race.
While Magnussen couldn’t catch Perez in the Sprint Race, Hulkenberg showed all of his racecraft to stay ahead of the Mexican at the chequered flag.
Although he made a small mistake heading into the final lap, he allowed Perez to pass at turn three just to get the DRS and make his final move into turn four.
Things are looking up for Haas although they head to the British Grand Prix where they’ve only scored points on three occasions in their history.
The post ‘Pulled me around’: One-pole wonder thinks he was even ‘faster’ than Max Verstappen during the Austrian GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.