Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg has insisted his Monaco Grand Prix weekend will not be impacted by his crash in first practice. The German has returned to Monaco for the first time since 2019 following his F1 comeback but made a small error in the opening session. Turning into the Nouvelle Chicane, Hulkenberg clipped the inside wall with his left-rear tyre to leave him nursing a puncture and damaged wheel rim back to the pits. Assessing his day as a whole after finishing 15th fastest, Hulkenberg told media including RacingNews365.com : "If you look at the timesheets, it doesn't look that great but both Kevin and my runs... we didn't achieve the optimal or full potential for different reasons. "Lots to look at now and lots of data collected with regards to the new parts. I feel there is more in it but it is once again very tight all the way from P8 all the way to last basically. "So very small margins."
Hulkenberg was able to rejoin the circuit to complete FP1 with no damage done to the Haas' chassis, though the session was temporarily red-flagged so marshals could retrieve debris caused by his incident. Recounting his error, Hulkenberg explained: "I started well, I immediately found a good rhythm and was feeling relatively happy. "Then I unfortunately just clipped the sticking-out wall out of the tunnel a little bit too much. "It didn't break the car, it just broke the rear rim but then you lose the set, that isn't ideal. It will not have an impact for the rest of the weekend."
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