Ted Kravitz names 552-point driver who missed Baku debrief because he was ‘so annoyed’

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There were several incidents during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that left drivers feeling like they missed out on an opportunity.

Yuki Tsunoda was also forced to retire again due to a collision with Lance Stroll, while a collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the closing stages of the race led to Red Bull losing their lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

The pair collided while fighting over third place at Turn 2, causing both cars to slam into the barrier and covering that section of the track in debris. The two beneficiaries of the late-race crash were Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman, after they both made moves on Nico Hulkenberg which promoted them to the points.

The Haas driver was comfortably running in 10th place ahead of Franco Colapinto, before being passed by the Williams driver on fresher tyres just before the incident between the Red Bull and Ferrari driver.

He was then overtaken by Hamilton and Bearman as they passed the incident zone and just a minute before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, relegating Hulkenberg and setting the unwanted record for most 11th places in a season.

Discussing the aftermath of the race on Sky Sports, Ted Kravitz revealed that Hulkenberg missed the Haas drivers debrief.

Nico Hulkenberg left Baku early and missed Haas debrief

Hulkenberg appeared to be caught out by both Hamilton and Bearman after they passed the accident zone, as he initially thought it was a big enough accident to warrant a red flag.

The Haas driver also mistakenly pressed a button on his steering wheel, which further impacted his ability to defend his points-paying position.

Hamilton initially went through to ninth, then as they approached Turn 3 his teammate Bearman snuck through to tenth which dropped him out of the points and prevented him from adding to his 552-point career tally.

Kravitz said he spotted Hulkenberg leaving the track early which caused him to miss the debrief with his Haas engineers.

“I saw Hulkenberg leaving the circuit quite early and I thought ‘Thats odd, why is Hulkenberg leaving during what was clearly the debriefs?’ Now I know why, because he was so annoyed with himself that he lost a point,” said Kravitz.

Haas closes in on RB

Despite not securing a double-points finish, Haas managed to close in on RB for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

RB failed to score any points with Tsunoda’s retirement and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in 13th, while Williams overtook Alpine for eighth with both Colapinto and Alex Albon finishing in the points.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Haas F1 Team from team principal to Ferrari relationship

Bearman was substituting for Kevin Magnussen in Azerbaijan after he was handed a one-race ban for accumulating 12 penalty points in a 12-month period for a collision with Tsunoda at Monza.

The Briton is set to replace Magnussen full-time next year when he will also race alongside Esteban Ocon, while Hulkenberg will make the move to Sauber.