Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg defends Lance Stroll over his 'silly' crash with Daniel Ricciardo in Shanghai

The Chinese Grand Prix has been a poor day for Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll. At the end of the first safety car at the Shanghai International Circuit Stroll crashed with Daniel Ricciardo. The controversial crash pushed them out of the race and also put Stroll as the guilty.

However, Nico Hulkenberg has come in support of Stroll saying that he caught off guard a bit. Notably, from Formula 1 to others most of the people have blamed Stroll for the incident which not only affected Ricciardo but also impacted Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

Speaking about the incident Haas driver Hulkenberg said, "It was pretty spectacular going into Turn 14. All I saw was Lance not really slowing down and he really lifted Daniel and I went around the corner and I didn't see them anymore.”

"So, I continued because as far as I was concerned, they crashed and I couldn't tell if they had continued. I think maybe Lance got caught off guard a bit, it happens. This concertina effect is quite big, and I think especially on safety car restarts, and maybe he had cold brakes and didn't have full stopping power”, he further added.

“I can’t help him”, says Daniel Ricciardo

After the incident in Shanghai Daniel Ricciardo spoke to the media and tried to avoid using harsh words against the Aston Martin driver. However, he had said that Stroll would need to take some responsibility as a crash behind a safety car shouldn’t happen.

He said, “I slowly started to calm down and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident. I'm an idiot and it was my fault, so that made my blood boil because it's clear as day and it's also behind a safety car.”

“The only thing you've got to do is watch the car in front. We can't predict what the leader is going to do, we can't assume that we're going to go into Turn 14, the race doesn't start till the control line. So, I'm doing my best not to say what I want to say, but fuck that guy - and I'm being nice still", he told media in Shanghai.