How Nico Hulkenberg "put his words into" Kevin Magnussen's face and 'broke the ice' with his Haas teammate

Nico Hulkenberg shared a funny instance of how he broke the ice between himself and Kevin Magnussen.

The two drivers did not have the best relationship after Hulkenberg accused Magnussen of being "the most unsporting driver on the grid." The Danish driver's retaliation went viral as he told the German to "S**k his b*lls".

Since then, the two drivers have come a long way. Magnussen exited the sport in 2021 and made a return last season. Hulkenberg, on the other hand, was out of the sport since 2019 before making a full-time return this season with Haas.

In an exclusive with F1.com, Hulkenberg talked about how he broke the ice with Magnussen last season.

According to the German, he walked up the Danish driver during a one-off appearance at Bahrain last season and mouthed the same infamous words to Magnussen that had set the two on a parallel course. He said:

“We actually broke the ice here 12 months ago when I stepped in for Seb. There was this driver picture on Sunday morning and we happened to be standing behind each other. I decided to break the ice, reached out with a hand and with a smile, put his words into his face, and that’s where our relationship actually started 12 months ago."

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I feel no tension or friction: Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg revealed that the two Haas drivers had spent a lot of time together during the winter in the UK as they had to get together for some marketing and media stuff.

The German assured that there wasn't any friction or tension between the two drivers, saying:

“We’ve been hanging out over the winter in the UK, doing some marketing and media stuff, and so far, so good. I feel no tension or friction between us. He’s a dad too, so we are both in similar positions in our life. [I’m] looking forward to working alongside him.”

Hulkenberg did not have the best of starts to life at Haas as he failed to convert a brilliant top 10 starting position into points. The German ended up finishing the race in P16 and struggled with race pace for the most part.

Having said that, the weekend was a showcase of the talent that Hulkenberg possesses. He nailed his very first qualifying session with Haas and out-qualified his teammate, proof of how good he still is in an F1 car.