Nico Hülkenberg, F1 driver

Haas scored all but one of its 12 points in the first five races of the year, with a best of seventh place earned by Hulkenberg in the high-attrition Australian GP.The German said that once rivals began to develop their cars Haas slipped back and its issues – notably with overheating tyres in races – became more obvious."Obviously, it was a process, and signs were there early in the season," ...

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The German says his pace with the older-spec VF-23 relative to Kevin Magnussen’s upgraded model in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix confirms that the team has been “overtaken and out-developed” by rivals.Haas introduced a major new package at the United States GP and, after inconclusive results, agreed to allow the two drivers to follow their personal preferences for the last two ...

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The two incidents left only a quarter of an hour of real running at the end of the session, in which Leclerc posted a 1m24.809s to fire his way up to the top of the order - then at the expense of the two Alfa Romeos who had opened the last-gasp soft-tyre running with good pace.Prior to the red flags, George Russell had landed on top of the pile to reprise his position from FP1 with a 1m25.906s on ...

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Ocon was losing ground on his fading soft tyres when Hulkenberg tried to pass him on the exit of Turn 1, and Perez in turn drew alongside the Haas as they approached the Turn 2 left-hander.With Ocon on the inside, Hulkenberg was caught in a sandwich between the two cars. After contact from the Haas, Ocon was sent spinning across Hulkenberg's bows and into Perez's Red Bull.Perez and Ocon ended ...

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Haas has yet to get on top of its 2023 car's severe tyre woes, which have left it unable to replicate its often-reasonable qualifying pace over a whole race stint.The team particularly struggles on hot and twisty circuits where Pirelli's tyres are tested the most, with its disastrous performance in the Italian Grand Prix another new low.Hulkenberg and tea-mate Kevin Magnussen were the only drivers ...

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The 2023 campaign is Hulkenberg’s first for Haas after he spent the three preceding seasons acting as a reserve driver for the Racing Point/Aston Martin team, while Magnussen is Haas’s longest-serving driver.The pair currently sit 14th and 18th in the 2023 drivers’ standings, with Haas eighth in the constructors’ championship on 11 points, after the first half of its campaign was dominated ...

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Hulkenberg was signed for 2023 to replace the accident-prone Mick Schumacher, who scored points in his second season of F1 but also showed an alarming tendency to cost the team high repair bills.This followed a three-year spell where Hulkenberg was often called upon as a super-sub at Racing Point and Aston Martin, jumping into the car at short notice during three separate COVID-19 diagnoses.In ...

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Hulkenberg has started 193 F1 races – not including the 2013 Melbourne, 2015 Spa and 2020 Silverstone races he failed to start – with a best result of fourth.He achieved that result three times for what was then called Force India and Sauber between 2012 and 2016, but had several other podium near misses.These include his crash with Lewis Hamilton after leading much of the 2012 Brazilian Grand ...

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Hulkenberg's hiring by Haas to replace the crash-prone Mick Schumacher in late 2022 reignited an F1 career that had appeared over when Hulkenberg was dropped by the team then called Renault (now Alpine) in favour of Esteban Ocon for 2020. He has since shone in qualifying for Haas, making six 2023 Q3 appearances and qualifying third in Canada before being penalised for a red-flag infringement in ...

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Despite F1 enjoying a rise in popularity around the world, triggered by its expansion on social media and the Netflix: Drive to Survive series, not all countries have gone through the same thing. One place where F1’s popularity has stalled is Germany. The nation has not hosted an F1 race since the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 2020, and its most iconic world champion racers – Michael ...

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Hulkenberg has shown good pace on his return to a full-time drive in 2023, regularly making Q3 and qualifying as high as second in Canada, before he took a penalty hit in Montreal.However, the car has inevitably fallen off the pace in races and used its tyres too hard.In the first half of the season his best result was seventh in Australia, although he also picked up a sixth in the Austrian GP ...

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It came after two earlier failures for Hulkenberg himself, which have added to the team’s woes as it fights to develop a car, which is quick in qualifying but is usually too hard on its tyres in races.Magnussen had stopped on track in Q1 at Silverstone after suffering an oil pressure issue, although it was believed at the time that the power unit – which was new in Austria – had not been ...

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Hulkenberg holds the record for the most F1 starts (189) without a top-three finish.
Extending his run of strong one-lap performances this season, he qualified fourth for the Red Bull Ring sprint race and then gained a position through Turn 3 when third-starting Lando Norris suffered a loss of traction to trigger anti-stall aboard his McLaren MCL60.
Meanwhile, a slow-launching Max Verstappen ...

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The German did a brilliant job to qualify second in Montreal, helped by a red flag preventing any late quicker laps for rivals.
However, he then lost three places for going too quickly on his lap back to the pits after the session was stopped.
He ran fifth in the opening stages of the race and had lost a couple of spots when he made an early pit visit on lap 11 – just before the safety car ...

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Although a drying line had emerged by the start of Q2, offering drivers to take a chance on running with soft tyres, the conditions had worsened by the start of the final part of qualifying and the rain picked up in intensity.
Armed with intermediate rubber, Verstappen collected a 1m27.059s with his first lap of the session, as Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso got to within 0.25s of the ...

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The Haas driver was found to have gone faster than the minimum delta time set by the FIA ECU on his return to the pits when the session was red flagged in Q3, as Oscar Piastri put his McLaren in the wall at Turn 7 amid wet conditions in Montreal.
Hulkenberg had set a lap good enough for second on the grid moments before the red flag emerged, and the worsening rainfall ensured that nobody was ...

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The German had posted a time good enough to join Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid in Q3, seconds before the red flag was issued by the stewards following Oscar Piastri's crash on the exit of Turn 7.
Following the clean-up operation of the Australian's stranded McLaren, the session resumed but in far worse conditions than those that had preceded the short hiatus.
This cemented ...

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The German driver battled into Q3 as conditions dried out from heavy rain and then nailed his second flying lap in the final part of qualifying to lift himself up to second place just seconds before a red flag for Oscar Piastri’s crash.
With the conditions getting worse during the stoppage as the rain returned, it meant Hulkenberg’s front-row spot was secured next to polesitter Max ...

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Hulkenberg was fast throughout the Spanish GP weekend, qualifying ninth and starting eighth after gaining a spot from a penalty for Pierre Gasly.
He ran in the same position in the early laps of the race but had to pit and abandon his soft tyres after just eight laps.
That led him into a three-stop strategy that saw him in 15th place at the flag after running mediums, hards and mediums for ...

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Hulkenberg, who has not raced at Barcelona since 2019 with Renault, ended the second practice session on Friday afternoon behind only Fernando Alonso and Red Bull pacesetter Max Verstappen.
The German, who was yet to take the 170mph final corner flat out, eventually posted a 1m14.177s as he ran 0.27s off the pace. A margin of 0.536s covered the following 12 cars down to his team-mate Kevin ...

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At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli's range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.
But Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon all then cycled through to temporarily head the ...

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The German was due to start from 16th on the grid, following Alpine's decision to start Esteban Ocon from the pitlane in both the sprint and grand prix, amid a difficult qualifying performance.
Hulkenberg's fortunes improved in the sprint shootout where he qualified 12th, but fell back through the 17-lap race having endured severe rear tyre graining throughout to finish 15th.
Haas has ...

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Hulkenberg returned with the US-owned F1 team after three years without a full-time seat.
During his absence, he kept his hand in with five reserve appearances with Racing Point/Aston Martin.
The German has twice made Q3 in the first three races with his new team, and in Australia he scored his first points with a strong run to seventh place, although Haas felt he should have been a place ...

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Following a red flag triggered by Alex Albon's Turn 6 crash in the Australian GP, the Melbourne race was stopped for a second time with three laps to go after Hulkenberg's team-mate Kevin Magnussen hit the wall at Turn 2 and his broken wheel rim left debris on the track.
After a formation lap, the field was set for a two-lap sprint to the flag. However, following a series of first-corner ...

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Albon was running in sixth place when he had a high-speed spin into a barrier and his damaged car rolled back towards the edge of the track.
The first drivers on the scene, Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg, had virtually no warning – and only just missed the stricken Williams as they passed it at full speed. Hulkenberg admitted that he had a narrow escape.
"Holy moly, I mean seriously I had a ...

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