Nico Hulkenberg believes fellow German Sebastian Vettel was responsible for the opening lap collision which forced the Force India driver to retire from the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Hulkenberg collided with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas on the opening lap after Vettel did not leave enough space, forcing both cars into the pits. Bottas was able to continue, however, finished well down the order.
Hulkenberg believes Vettel was ultimately to blame.
“I don’t think it was the Williams / Force India battle, it just happened to be there.
“We were obviously three in one corner, Seb on my outside, I was in the middle, Valtteri on the inside.
“But the way I saw it is Seb didn’t give me much room, he really turned in on me.
“I couldn’t pull out as I also had a car on the inside.
“He turned into me and I wasn’t able to back out because it happened too quickly.
“He then pushed me into Valtteri and that was basically the incident.
“It could have been avoided if Seb leaves a bit more space.”
The 29-year-old confirmed the collision on lap one resulted in a broken steering arm.
“One of the steering arms was broken and you can’t race like that,” he said.
“It is not a quick fix so very frustrating.”
