Untelevised team radio from the Brazilian GP sprint race
has revealed how Nico Hulkenberg caused confusion on the McLaren pit wall as
the team prepared to enforce team orders on Oscar Piastri.
Despite leading most of the sprint from pole position,
Piastri swapped positions with Lando Norris in the closing laps to aid his
team-mate’s title hopes.
How Nico Hulkenberg complicated McLaren team orders call
The move to enforce team orders came late in the race as
the pair were chased by World Championship leader Max Verstappen.
Hulkenberg pulled
to the side of the track to retire on Lap 20 of 24, with the incident upping
the urgency for McLaren to
make the swap happen before the Virtual Safety Car – under which no overtaking
is allowed – was deployed.
The sight of Hulkenberg’s stationary car resulted in
Piastri’s engineer Tom Stallard instructing his driver to swap places with
Norris.
Stallard said: “Oscar, if possible, swap position with
Lando.”
However, television pictures then showed Hulkenberg’s car
crawling at low speed in the run-off area, potentially removing the need for a
Virtual Safety Car, with Stallard quickly backtracking on his request.
“No, Hulkenberg is getting going,” Stallard added. “Do
not swap position. Do not swap position.”
Norris, who had already signalled his frustration at the
delayed team orders earlier in the race, sounded increasingly miffed as the
prospect of a VSC grew, commenting: “Yeah, now then, no?”
The British driver was reassured by his race engineer
Will Joseph, who responded: “I’m trying, mate, I’m trying.”
Piastri soon eased his place to let Norris through on the
approach to Turn 4 on Lap 22, with the VSC finally deployed at the end of that
lap.
The delayed VSC proved a bone of contention for
Verstappen and his Red Bull team, particularly after the reigning World
Champion suffered an early elimination in qualifying the following day after a
delayed red flag following a crash for Lance Stroll.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner questioned why
it took so long for Race Control to neutralise both sessions, with both
decisions coming after Verstappen had been disadvantaged.
Horner told Sky F1 after qualifying: “It’s
hugely frustrating. In a session like that, there’s obviously a huge amount
going on.
“I don’t understand why it took so long for the red flag
to come out. It’s obviously a big accident at Turn 3, one of the most dangerous
corners on the circuit.
“Forty seconds it took to throw the red flag and it’s the second day in a row now that we’ve had very late calls, whether it was a VSC yesterday or the red flag today, the other red flags were all instantaneous.”
.webp)
