Heart-Stopping Close Call: Hulkenberg’s Narrow Escape from Disaster with Tsunoda in Montreal
The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix was nothing short of thrilling, and no moment encapsulated that more than the heart-stopping incident involving Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda. As the race reached its climax on Lap 66, Tsunoda spun his VCARB car across the grass at Turn 8, leaving him stranded on the track just as Hulkenberg roared out of Turn 9. The German driver’s quick reflexes and a touch of luck saw him avoid Tsunoda’s car by mere millimeters, a moment that could have ended in disaster.
Reflecting on the incident, Hulkenberg said, “I just don’t know. I tried to react, tried to stop and tried to avoid him, but it must have been by a few millimeters—it felt very, very close. I had closed my eyes, bracing for the impact, but managed somehow luckily to escape it.” This near-miss was a stark reminder of the razor-thin margins in Formula 1 racing, where the difference between catastrophe and triumphant avoidance can be a fraction of a second.
The incident brought to a close what had been a day of mixed fortunes for the Haas team. They made a bold strategy call by fitting extreme wet tires to both cars at the start of the race while the rest of the field opted for intermediate tires. This decision initially paid off handsomely, with Kevin Magnussen and Hulkenberg climbing as high as P4 and P7 from their starting positions of P14 and P17, respectively. However, their early promise did not translate into points by the end of the race.
Despite the early gains, Hulkenberg ultimately finished in 11th place, just missing out on points, while Magnussen came in 12th. Magnussen’s race was particularly frustrating due to a slow pit stop that undermined his early progress.
“I didn’t feel like we got the best out of it today,” said a dejected Magnussen. “With all the opportunity that the race offered, we didn’t seem to capitalize on it, so that’s disappointing. We’ll review it to understand where it went wrong. Right now, it’s all a bit blurry. There was lots of opportunity, that’s for sure, and we didn’t get any points, so we’ve got to look into things.”
Magnussen pointed out that the series of pit stops could have been executed better, including an early switch to intermediate tires that left him needing an additional stop. “We had one very slow and one medium-slow [pit stop],” he explained. “Then I also think we pitted for inters off the full wets too early and had to take another inter, which felt unnecessary—but I’ll need to review it properly.”
Although frustrated by the outcome, Hulkenberg acknowledged the early laps had gone according to plan before conditions shifted. “The first 10 laps were going really well,” he agreed. “But then it dried out, and everything came undone again. But yeah, that was that. We knew about that risk—not a risk, but that scenario. It was a clean race, no mistakes, at least.”
The Haas team remains in a precarious position, holding seventh in the constructors’ championship. They sit just two points ahead of Alpine, who had a double-score in Montreal amid ongoing intra-team issues between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. The race in Montreal was a significant test of strategic acumen and driver skill, highlighting both the potential and the pitfalls that come with high-risk calls. As the teams pack up and move on, the lessons from Canada will undoubtedly be scrutinized in the days and weeks to come.