Hulkenberg opens up on 'nasty' Miami track after FP1 crash

Nico Hulkenberg says the Miami International Circuit is "tricky and nasty", after he crashed during FP1.

On his first visit to the Miami circuit, the German lost the back end of his Haas at Turn 3 early in the session, slamming backwards into the barriers and causing the first red flag of the weekend.

Afterwards, the Haas driver said the paucity of grip afforded by the circuit at that point had contributed to his accident.

"A bit unnecessary. Shame that I just wanted a bit too much too soon,” Hulkenberg said of his crash to media, including RacingNews365.com.

"It was my first time on this track and running wide there at Turn 3 is a little tricky. The crash was luckily not too bad.

"It seems like there's one line where the grip is good, and if you go offline a little bit, the grip drops dramatically, and even later in the sessions there's a lot of marbles offline.

"It's quite a tricky and nasty track in that sense. Easy to get caught out."

Hulkenberg recovered from his mishap to set the ninth fastest time in FP1. Though he could only manage the 17th fastest time in FP2, the German sounded optimistic of a good result in Miami.

"I think the car is quite happy around here, quite handy. I enjoy the track too, seems quite fun and looking forward to do much more.

"I can see a challenging [qualifying session] coming, a very dynamic one with traffic with a lot of track evolution, so not an easy one, but I feel that we're competitive."