Last Updated on December 30 2024, 11:21 am

Nico Hulkenberg is one of the elder statesman of Formula One and at 37 years of age is entering the twilight of his career in the sport. The German was signed as a Formula One test driver for AT&T Williams back in 2007 and became only the fifth GP2 champion two seasons later.

Yet is was to be 2010 before the rising German star was offered a full time F1 seat with the historic British racing marque and Hulkenberg was to claim a pole position in his maiden year and finish a respectable fourteenth in the drivers championship. Yet Williams decided to drop him for the following season and so Nico became the test/reserve driver for the Silverstone based team, which at the time went by the name Force India.

Hulkenberg replaced Adrian Sutil as a full time driver for the team during the 2012 campaign and he delivered an average finish of P10 in the drivers’ championship over the next four seasons.

 

 

 

Nico wins Le Mans 24

Come 2015, Nico was offered a drive with the Porsche works team in the World Endurance Championship blue ribband event, the Le Mans 24 hour race. On June 14th 2015, Hulkenberg won the epic endurance event alongside team mates Nick Candy and Earl Bamber of New Zealand. They completed 395 laps, one lap ahead of their Porsche team mates Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard.

This was Porsche first overall victory in Le Mans since 1998 and Hulkenberg’s triumph made him there first active F1 driver since Johnny Herbert in 1991 to win one of motorsport’s triple crown events. The German was building a reputation for being a quick driver in F1 and come 2017 the Renault works team signed him on a multi-year deal.

Come the start of 2019, Nico had clocked up 158 Grand Prix starts but was as yet without a podium. He was joined by Daniel Ricciardo and claimed his “future in the sport depends on the outcome of the duel” as his ability could be measured “against a Grand Prix winner” for the first time since his rookie season in 2010, when he was teammate to Rubens Barrichello at Williams.

Renault CEO, Cyril Abiteboul claimed the driver pairing was “one of the strongest – if not the strongest – driver line-up on the grid,” he said to Autosport. Yet Nico wvsreplaced the following year by French driver Esteban Ocon as the German returned to Silverstone as the team’s test and reserve driver.

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Years in the wilderness

Hulkenberg substituted for Sergio Perez that year at the British Grand Prix following the Mexican driver being diagnosed with COVID-19. Nico was sidelined again at the start of the next two seasons although he again filled in for Sebastian Vettel at the season opener in Bahrain 2021 as his countryman had also contracted COVID-19.

The came redemption for the once rising star F1 driver as Haas F1 finally ditched all experiments with rookie and inexperienced drivers choosing Hulkenberg to partner with Kevin Magnussen for the 2022 campaign. Short of cash and a title sponsor the team struggled finishing bottom of the constructor standings however under the guidance of new team boss Ayao Komatsu Haas F1 had its second best season in F1 since joining nine years ago.

Now ‘the Hulk’ is off to drive for the embryonic Sauber-Audi project and was announced as their first driver in the all new lineup right back in April this year. Nico has a multi-year deal, something Haas F1 do not offer their drivers, yet he retains the unenviable record of being the F1 driver with the most starts (227) and as yet no podium finish.

He will be partnered by the former McLaren development driver Gabriel Bertoleto who will have one year in the current generation of F1 cars before the next big rule change coming for 2026.

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Nico one of three current F1 drivers….

Hulkenberg is just one of three drivers on the grid to have driven the last three generations of Formula One cars. He tested in the V8’s for Williams before getting his first full season in 2012 and then was contracted to Force India when the big change of the V6 turbo hybrids came into force in 2014.

Coming back into the sport full time in 2023, Hulkenberg was at a huge disadvantage to the rest of the field who had experienced the all new ground effect cars the previous season. Yet Nico comprehensively beat his team mate Kevin Magnussen both last year and this and is now looking forward another challenge as he joins the Audi F1 project.

Speaking to Motorsport-total, Hulkenberg addresses the issue of the new ground effect cars and whether they suit in particular his driving style, given the struggles of Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

“No, I don’t see it that way,” he replied. “I think it always has more to do with how you feel as a driver, how you feel and how your confidence or self-confidence is.

“At the end of the day, it’s the feeling you have or don’t have in the car, and if you’re missing one per cent, then there’s a problem straight away. Then there’s a lack of lap time and you can see it on the stopwatch.”

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F1 drivers must adapt their driving style

Lewis Hamilton has been most vocal since the switch in 2022 to ground effect F1 cars that his Mercedes is often nigh on impossible to drive. Yet according to Hulkenberg, this attitude only makes matters worse.

“But there are also examples like Max, who, no matter what generation of car, performs in every circumstance and under every set of regulations. I felt the same,” added ‘the hulk.’

“Of course, I’ve had my ups and downs, even with the old cars, and I didn’t come out so well with Renault. But that was due to other circumstances, as I said, it was more about feeling and where you are.

“I think the rules and the cars change every five or six years. So as a driver, you actually have to be able to adapt and relearn.

“Otherwise, if you are only good in one car and don’t develop, don’t adapt, then you would have a relatively short life expectancy here in Formula 1. So I don’t think that [is] such an argument.”

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Hamilton gamble on Ferrari

Hamilton did win one of his championships in the V8 era before Mercedes outspent the entire rest of the field in R&D for their uber dominant V6 turbo hybrid. Yet as Hulkenberg suggests, questions remain over whether Lewis can cope with the current breed of F1 cars.

Yes there will be a new specification car coming for 2026, but it will retain many of the ground effect principles. Whether Lewis can reboot his career at Ferrari will be telling, because their 2025 car will not be too dissimilar to the W15 he disliked so much this season.

Whether a driver can be truly the greatest when most of their success is in a single generation of F1 car is questionable. The likes of Graham Hill won Le Mans, F1 and the Indy500, while John Surtees won the two wheel and four wheel top class of Formula racing.

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Hamilton first laps at Fioran0

…as Ferrari prepares for Hamilton’s arrival – The 2024 Formula One season draws to a close, a new chapter begins for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari. The seven-time world champion has completed his final race with Mercedes and the focus now shifts to his much-anticipated debut in the iconic red of Scuderia Ferrari.

With Hamilton joining the Maranello-based team for the 2025 season, the integration process is already underway, signalling a new era for both driver and team… READ MORE