Hulkenberg frustrated by Brazil FP2 crash, but won't face penalty

Nico Hulkenberg made no secret of his frustration after crashing out early in second practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, leaving him on the back foot heading into the remainder of the Formula 1 race weekend.

Hulkenberg crashed exiting Turn 13 at Interlagos just 15 minutes into FP2, running wide over the kerb and touching the grass with his Renault car, which then speared into the wall on the right-hand side of the circuit.

The crash left the right-hand side of his car with damage, with Hulkenberg explaining that he had no chance to try and save the spin once he had touched the grass.

“I ran a bit too wide at the exit of the last corner, took a little bit too much kerb there, wanted a bit too much probably,” Hulkenberg explained.

“The car bottomed out, and from there it was done, I was a passenger. Once I bottomed out that really pulled me out of the track and onto the grass. Obviously there’s no grip on the grass, and it was inevitable from there that I would hit the wall.

“It’s a pity and it’s frustrating. Obviously it’s far from ideal to crash on a Friday, it’s not what I want, but unfortunately it happened today.”
  
Hulkenberg confirmed that both the power unit and gearbox on his car were not damaged in the accident, meaning he will avoid any resulting grid penalties.

The German did however concede that Renault appeared to be off the pace compared to its midfield rivals despite being strong at the last two races.

“I think we don’t look as competitive as in Mexico and in Austin. A little bit as expected, this track is a bit more challenging for us in the balance that we face,” Hulkenberg said.

“A challenging weekend ahead."