08 October 2023 , 15:34
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Guenther Steiner labelled Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon "two desperate boys" as he fumed over the crash which took out his driver Nico Hulkenberg in the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint.
Hulkenberg was hunting down Ocon on the periphery of the points positions in the second half of that short-form race. The Alpine was starting to struggle on the soft tyres and so the German driver was snapping at his heels.
But when he made a move on the Frenchman, Sergio Perez decided to get involved. All three went into the same corner hoping to get past one another, which rarely ends well.
And all three of them suffered the consequences. Hulkenberg could not move to the right as Ocon came across the track as he would have hit into Perez, so the Alpine hit his front wing before slamming into the Red Bull.
Ocon and Perez were left beached in the gravel and out of the race immediately. Hulkenberg managed to nurse his Haas back to the pits but the team decided it was pointless fitting a new front wing and sending him back out.
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"Nico had a very good day until he ended up in a sandwich between two desperate boys," said Haas team principal Steiner of the incident. "None of it was his fault, but between these two, what can you do? Luck wasn't on our side."
Hulkenberg lamented the fact his hunt for the points places was ended by a "very stupid situation". But he was more forgiving than his boss as he admitted, as the F1 stewards themselves concluded, that it was just an unfortunate racing incident.
"It's really bad for us because it was a day where we could have taken something," said the German racer. "I'm very disappointed about that because it was an opportunity. Ocon started to have problems and so I was able to attack him. But Perez also came from behind and was so fast.
"That meant he was suddenly in the middle of things, but I saw him really late because I was focused on Ocon. And he, in turn, probably didn't know or couldn't see that I also had a car next to me and therefore there was no more space.
"It put me in a sandwich and yes, with three cars so tight in a corner, that was too close. I'd like to blame Esteban, but I don't think he can know that Sergio is on the right. [It was a] very stupid and unfortunate racing situation."