McNish hails Hulkenberg’s 'bloody good save' in Dutch GP

Allan McNish has revealed just how close Audi came to a nightmare scenario at Zandvoort, admitting he was left hugely impressed by Nico Hulkenberg’s instinctive reaction to a spinning Gabriel Bortoleto at the end of the opening lap of the Dutch Grand Prix.

As the field exited the final corner, the two Audi drivers found themselves in an extraordinarily awkward situation.

After Max Verstappen’s heavy crash, Bortoleto also suddenly lost control of his car and spun across the circuit, kicking up a cloud of tyre smoke that dramatically reduced visibility for those approaching from behind.

Hulkenberg was right in the firing line.

Travelling at high speed and with Bortoleto’s stricken car directly ahead, the German had almost no time to process what was unfolding. Yet he reacted instantly, moving to the left and threading his Audi past his teammate without making contact.

It was the sort of split-second decision that can turn a spectacular save into a costly double retirement.

Instinct meets judgement

McNish had a particularly close-up view of the drama, watching both drivers’ onboard footage as the incident unfolded. The Audi racing director admitted the experience was doing little for his stress levels.

“I watch their two onboards and am live every second with them, which is why I’m turning grey very quickly at times,” he joked.

But McNish’s analysis went deeper than simply praising Hulkenberg’s reflexes. He explained that avoiding an incident like this requires a combination of instinct, mental processing and an almost immediate assessment of where the spinning car is heading.

“There are two factors,” he explained. “One, when something’s happening ahead of you, there is a mental process, but there’s also an instinct, and it’s an instinctive knowing where to go and what to do.

“And some people have got it, some people don’t, and when the car starts to sort of spin, it goes in this particular direction, and it’s a trajectory, and then after that, there’s an element of instinctive judgment: how far do you go in which direction?

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“Certainly, with a car on a banking, that’s a different thing, though, because they tend to go up the way as opposed to down the way. Which is why I was very impressed with what Gabriel was able to do to keep it in the middle of the circuit, basically, and not for it to spoon up into the wall.

“But without doubt, whether it was instinct or whether it was skill and focus or anything else, I don’t know. But it was a bloody good save.”

A double disaster closely avoided

While Hulkenberg’s evasive manoeuvre prevented a nasty collision with Bortoleto, the Brazilian also deserves recognition for keeping his Audi away from the barriers after losing control.

The incident could easily have ended with both cars heavily damaged before the race had properly settled. Instead, Bortoleto managed to gather the R26, rotate it back into the correct direction and continue, while Hulkenberg escaped unscathed.

For McNish, it was another reminder of how quickly a driver’s instincts can be tested in Formula 1.

Hulkenberg has built a reputation throughout his career for producing impressive reactions when situations suddenly turn against him, and at Zandvoort he once again demonstrated precisely why that quality remains such a valuable asset.

What looked for a moment like an inevitable collision ultimately became one of the more remarkable saves of the race – and one that left Audi’s racing director distinctly relieved.

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