Haas went through tyres like “knife through butter” in Bahrain GP

Hulkenberg was quick throughout practice on his full-time comeback, finishing the second practice session in an encouraging fifth place. Having made it through to Q3, he eventually qualified in 10th.

However he tumbled down to 14th on the first lap after a touch with the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, reporting to the team: “Possible some contact at the front, but I’m not sure.”

While the engineers were checking the data he added: “There was some sort of a knock,…