Nico Hulkenberg says fears of a tyre failure caused his late pit-stop after dropping to seventh in the final standings at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Starting third after an impressive qualifying, the German ran well in fourth initially, after losing out to a fast-starting Max Verstappen into Abbey at the start.
But from there, his race went backwards as Charles Leclerc jumped both Racing Points and the late pit-stop dropped him behind Alex Albon and teammate Lance Stroll, 35 seconds behind the podium so many were pushing for.
“We were kind of forced to pit off the prime set,” Hulkenberg said on Sky Sports, ruling out any suggestions he’d been intentionally put behind Stroll by the team.
“I think we got a couple of nice big blisters on both rear tyres. The vibration just gets so quickly out of hand that within two, three laps, it just skyrocketed and I don’t think the tyre would have survived to the end.
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“It was a pity. The first half of the race was very under control, very managed.
“The second I got onto the second prime set, that just felt like a different set of tyres, a different compound, and it just didn’t work in the end.”
Maintaining Saturday’s performance on Sunday was always going to be a challenge, particularly as failing to start last weekend meant Hulkenberg wasn’t fully adjusted to the physicality of a race distance.
“Luckily these cars have the headrest quite close, so I could rest my head a lot,” he admitted.
“The whole body, back muscles, even the seat is quite tight around the glutes. I’m definitely going to be a bit sore tomorrow morning.
“It was a quiet race, no big fighting, no safety cars, but I’m actually quite grateful. I’m glad it wasn’t too action-packed because it was enough as it was probably.”
After Sergio Perez again tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, there will now be another waiting game before Nico knows if he’ll get a third chance at Racing Point next weekend in Barcelona.
“I don’t know the full picture to be honest yet,” Hulkenberg said.
“We’ll find out more in the next couple of days, and as we get closer to the weekend, it will develop.
“I guess I’ll be present just in case he’s not able to race. I guess I’ll be there to replace him again. I think it will come down to again a late decision on Thursday.”