Nico Hülkenberg had a very disappointing end to his F1 Mexico City GP as he retired on Lap 25 due to a power unit issue. Since his inaugural Formula 1 podium at Silverstone, Hülkenberg has only managed to finish in the points once in the last eight races (COTA). The German driver had a promising result on the table, having qualified in P13 ahead of his Sauber teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.
Mechanical issue ended race before it began
Speaking after the race, Hülkenberg reflected on the loss of a potentially promising result through no fault of his own. He confirmed the rumour that his DNF was due to a power unit issue, which came about on the formation lap.
“It’s true, unfortunately. That kind of ended our race before it had really started. Obviously, disappointing for us, for everyone in the team. I feel we definitely would have had some decent race pace and would have been able to fight for something, but yeah, that prevented it today.”
Though disappointed with the way his own weekend played out, Hülkenberg took the time to celebrate his fellow Sauber teammate’s result. The rookie, who qualified in P16, crossed the finish line in the final point-scoring position.
“At least he scored one point, which is obviously better than nothing. But yeah, tough weekend overall. Yesterday was a bit difficult as well, but today, obviously, to end the race like this is obviously a bitter pill.”
‘A mixed day’ for Sauber F1
In his statement released by Sauber after the race, Hülkenberg mourned the possibility of a good result, though looked forward to the next race weekend in Brazil.
“It’s obviously a very tough one to take today. We had power issues right from the formation lap, which basically ended our race before it even began. It’s frustrating for everyone in the team because we know the pace was there to fight for something decent. Still, we managed to bring home a point with Gabi, which is better than nothing. Overall, a disappointing weekend, but we’ll work hard to understand what went wrong and fight back in Brazil.”
Sauber F1 Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley reflected on the highs and lows of the race. He praised Hulkenberg for making it as far into the Mexico City GP as he was able to before his car had to be called in.
“It was a mixed day for the team. Unfortunately, Nico suffered a power issue during the formation lap, which meant he started the race with a compromised car. He did a great job driving around the problem, but ultimately, we had to make the difficult call to retire the car for reliability reasons.”
