formula 1
Hülkenberg’s 200th Formula 1 race: “It makes me happy”
“At the moment I’m at home here. And everything else is up in the air,” says Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg about the prospects for later joining Audi. photo
© Nick Didlick/AP/dpa
Nico Hülkenberg is driving his 200th Formula 1 race in Mexico. He holds a record that no one actually wants – and is enjoying the life of a racing driver more than ever.
The colorful images show the missed opportunities of his long career Nico Hülkenberg’s anniversary helmet is not. For his 200th Grand Prix in Formula 1, the Haas driver had photos of the beautiful moments from his life as a racing driver painted onto his head protection for his guest appearance in Mexico.
“Do I have any regrets? Not so much. I dress better now that I’m a little older,” said the 36-year-old with his own irony. Only 21 drivers have reached the mark of 200 race starts in more than 73 years of Formula 1. After Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg, Hülkenberg is the fourth German in this group. The other three immortalized themselves as world champions. Hülkenberg is the Formula 1 driver with the most races without ever achieving a podium finish. Nobody actually wants a record like that.
The son of a freight forwarder from Emmerich on the Lower Rhine has often taken the wrong turn in his long PS career. For teams like Williams, Force India, Sauber, Renault, Racing Point and Aston Martin, nothing more than a solid midfield was usually possible. “Obviously I wouldn’t make every decision or team change the same way again,” admitted Hülkenberg. “But you live and learn, it’s always hard to predict the future if you don’t have a crystal ball,” he said.
Contract at Haas extended
Nothing came of the matter with Audi either. The car manufacturer will enter Formula 1 with a works team in 2026 and probably wanted to hire Hülkenberg as a test and development driver now. “There were discussions, there was interest, but at the end of the day it didn’t happen,” Hülkenberg told the TV channel Sky.
A possible change failed because he has already extended his contract with the US team Haas for 2024. “At the moment I’m at home here. And everything else is up in the air,” said Hülkenberg about the prospects for later joining Audi.
The father of a daughter came to terms with his role in the autumn of his career. His talent is recognized and undisputed. As a driver, he was “someone with sensitivity in his fingers and feet,” the “Spiegel” once wrote. In 2010, in the first year of Formula 1, he drove the inferior Williams to pole position in the rain in Brazil. A few weeks later he was rid of his cockpit. Another paid the cash-strapped team a lot of money for their regular place.
In 2013 he negotiated a move with Ferrari, and in the end Kimi Räikkönen got the contract. So Hülkenberg remained a wandering boy in the less glamorous places in the paddock. “He’s the type of driver who holds his own umbrella on the way to the starting grid when it’s raining,” it says about him on the Formula 1 page.
Hülkenberg: “I do what I like”
He also took matters into his own hands at Haas when, after three years with a few temporary assignments, he forced his return to a regular cockpit. “I put pressure on. It was my only chance, my last straw,” said Hülkenberg recently in a Formula 1 podcast. He repeatedly sent Haas team boss Günther Steiner “information and presentations” until the South Tyrolean sent Mick Schumacher away after two years and gave Hülkenberg the job.
“He was back immediately,” Steiner praised his new signing and said about his signing: “Thank God we did that.” In terms of sport, however, Haas and Hülkenberg are having a tough year. The team collected twelve points in 18 Grand Prix, nine of which were won by the German. Only Alpha Tauri has two points less at the bottom of the table.
Even the new components that Haas finally installed on the car in Austin after a long development period did not yet provide the desired boost. But Hülkenberg doesn’t want to complain; he values being able to be part of the big Formula 1 circus again at all. “It makes me happy, I do what I like. I enjoy it more than before,” said Hülkenberg before his anniversary trip.