The Qatar Grand Prix was a missed opportunity for some drivers as Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz picked up punctures after running over debris on the pit straight.
Max Verstappen kept out of trouble to take victory for Red Bull while his nearest rival Lando Norris was awarded a penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags.
It was a weekend of fine margins as Red Bull struggled in the Sprint Race before making tweaks such as lowering the car to improve and get to the front at the Qatar Grand Prix.
This weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix still has the Constructors’ Championship up for grabs as McLaren and Ferrari duel for the title.
Former Formula 1 driver John Watson explained that one driver in particular had a difficult weekend in Qatar, which cost his team points ahead of the final round.
John Watson was ‘disappointed’ with Nico Hulkenberg in Qatar
Nico Hulkenberg was involved in an incident on the opening lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, which ended his race and cost Haas critical world championship points.
The German got caught up in an incident with Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto as all three cars retired in an expensive, damaging incident.
Haas are battling for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship and are heading to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix needing to overturn Alpine’s five-point advantage.
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The American team have improved this year and were very competitive, particularly with Hulkenberg who scored points in four of the last six races.
Watson explained that he thought Hulkenberg could have done much better in Qatar and similar incidents are seen far too often in Formula 1.
He told the Drive to Wynn YouTube channel: “It’s just misjudgements. Because drivers know that they’ve got lots of areas to run off, but if they have contact or whatever, then more than likely they’ll be out or they’ll knock another car out and receive a penalty.
“I think a lot of it is poor driving. I I was disappointed that Nico Hulkenberg was involved in that incident with Colapinto and Ocon, because Nico, I got great respect and regard for, yet again, into that in turn one, the cars get together.
“It’s something we see too often as a turn one. I think it’s maybe a culture that’s grown over the years because the level of circuit safety, car safety, has reached a pitch where if you do make misjudgements and errors, that you know that nothing’s going to really happen to you. At worst, you’re going to be knocked out of the race.”
Nico Hulkenberg has a very difficult task at Sauber in 2025
Hulkenberg will be moving to Sauber for next season, returning to the Swiss team after spending one year with them in 2013.
The German will be leading the team alongside Gabriel Bortoleto, who holds the Formula 2 championship lead by half a point ahead of his nearest rival, Isack Hadjar.
It will be a change for the driver who has scored 567 points over his Formula 1 career before Hulkenberg will lead the team under the Audi name in 2026.
Sauber have struggled this year and finally scored their first points of the year with Zhou Guanyu’s eighth place finish last time out in Qatar.
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