'Kill switch' pain strikes again as Formula E team share freak Nico Hulkenberg misery

Just a week on from Nico Hülkenberg's freak incident, which led to him retiring from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the same has effectively happened in Formula E.

In Barcelona, Hülkenberg was forced to retire after a piece of gravel flicked into the air by Liam Lawson struck the pull loop on the side of his Audi, which acts as a kill switch.

Hülkenberg's car shut down completely, leaving him to coast into the pit lane before the German manufacturer discovered what had happened, with all radio communication also having been lost.

It is an incredibly rare cause of retirement, but fast forward six days and the same thing has happened in Formula E.

During Formula E's Sanya E-Prix, Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara suddenly retired from the race in the closing stages for initially unknown reasons.

However, it was soon confirmed by the team that a piece of debris had struck the pull loop on Mortara's car, also shutting it down completely and forcing him into an immediate retirement. The fire extinguisher also went off. 

"Unfortunately, we had contact which damaged our front wing, and the race ended with a technical issue with the extinguisher, which went off by itself," said Mortara.

Despite the frustration, Mahindra tried to see the funny side of it by noting on social media that it understood Hülkenberg's pain.

"Possibly the most unlucky emergency stop activation ever, triggered by debris. Somehow this story sounds very familiar🤦.

"@HulkHulkenberg, we feel you 😅"

See the post below!