Nico Hulkenberg joked after the sprint race that Fernando Alonso’s retirement from the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday was “karma”, after the German had to take avoiding action whilst behind the Spaniard earlier on.
Alonso retired from the race after spinning into the gravel at Pouhon, caused by running wide whilst behind Hulkenberg.
It was a rare mistake from the two-time World Champion, who admitted that his retirement was completely “my mistake”.
“I didn’t see the replay, but [it was] my mistake,” Alonso admitted to media.
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“It was a bad day in general, not even a qualifying lap in Q2 with the red flag, and now we were well out of the points, only the eight first cars take the points.
“So it was worth risking, but let’s see tomorrow if we can take some points.”
Despite having retired from the sprint on his 42nd birthday, the Aston Martin driver still received a warning from the FIA for an earlier incident with Hulkenberg.
When Alonso exited the pits having fitted the Intermediates, he moved to the left across the front of Hulkenberg, forcing the Haas driver onto the grass.
Hulkenberg later got ahead of the veteran ahead of his spin, something the German labelled as “karma”.
Hulkenberg joked that Alonso “enjoyed my turbulence”, and joked that his crash was a moment of “karma [having] hit back out at him.”
After the sprint, it was confirmed by the FIA as to why Alonso only received a warning and not a penalty.
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“Alonso was exiting the pits and moved over to the left, causing car 27 to have to take action to avoid a collision,” explained the FIA.
“Alonso explained that he had no visibility to the rear at the time, and that he had driven on the far left of the track at that location on every lap in order to maximize his forward visibility.
“While the Stewards accept these facts, the move from the right to the left in this case, while slower than the cars that had remained on track, caused the potential for a collision. Considering the conditions in mitigation, the Stewards issue a Warning.”