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Nico Hulkenberg described how he made an “instinctive” last-second swerve to avoid T-boning his team mate in the Dutch Grand Prix. Gabriel Bortoleto overtook Hulkenberg moments before spinning in front of him on the first lap of the Dutch Grand Prix.“It was scary, sketchy,” said Hulkenberg. “You’re a passenger to some [extent].” Bortoleto lost control of his car in the final corner, moments after Max Verstappen did the same and hit the barrier on the outside. Bortoleto kept his car on track but Hulkenberg had to make an immediate call whether to swerve to the left or right of the other Audi. “I tried to react as late as possible and then just instinctively chose the side,” Hulkenberg explained. “Obviously I was waiting to see if he’s going to slide up or down. On a wet track it’s sketchy and difficult, but luckily we managed to avoid that.” Bortoleto suspected he lost control of his car partly because he saw Verstappen going off ahead of him. “I just saw big smoke coming out,” he said. “I think it was Max that crashed and then I maybe made a small reaction on the steering. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and “But I just felt something and then I also lost the car. I did a 360, came back.” Both Audi drivers finished the race, Hulkenberg claiming points for eighth while Bortoleto’s poor start and spin left him 13th. Bortoleto said he had other “issues” in his race but was unwilling to elaborate on them. “I don’t want to go too much into details, because I don’t know if I can say, or whatever. But we just need to understand some stuff that happened today, and we’ll move on. “I had a few start problems today that almost made me not probably manage to run out of the grid box, but I appreciate the work of the team. They were really on it to make it happen and to fix everything. “It’s a shame the result was not what we wanted today, but Nico scored some points, so that’s good. We brought some points for the team at home, so good.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and 2026 Dutch Grand Prix - Russell defends “fair” decision to let Antonelli into second place - Antonelli says extra pit stop “put George at risk” too - “We weren’t unlucky”: Hamilton tells Ferrari their tactics cost him third place - 2026 Dutch Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres - Williams pair apologise for crash: ‘It’s not a Verstappen-Ricciardo Baku situation’