Nico Hulkenberg

## Career Overview

### **Williams (2010)**

Nico Hulkenberg made his F1 debut in 2010 with Williams. The high of the season would come at Brazil, where the German would take pole position for the race.

### **Force India (2012)**

Hulkenberg returned to the F1 grid for 2012, replacing Adrian Sutil. Once again, the high of the season would come at Brazil - with Hulkenberg in contention for the race victory, until a late race incident with Lewis Hamilton would drop the German down the order.

### **Sauber (2013)**

Hulkenberg moved to the Swiss outfit for 2013, with few of the early races bring points. It would take until the Korean Grand Prix for consistent point scoring finishes to come for Hulkenberg and Sauber.

### **Return to Force India (2014 - 2015)**

Outed by Sauber in favour of Adrian Sutil, Hulkenberg returned to Force India. The Indian team had one of the fastest cars in a straight line, and this would come into play at the Austrian Grand Prix. Hulkenberg would take the team's one and only victory.

### **Renault (2016 - 2020)**

After another strong year at Force India, Hulkenberg publicly stated he was ready to fight for his first Championship, and moved to the works Renault team. Despite the move, Force India would outscore Renault in 2016.

#### **2017**

2017 would bring an upturn in results, with Hulkenberg easily beating his points tally from 2016. However he was still yet to finish in the top 10 in the Driver's Championship since 2014.

#### **2018**

2018 would start as an uphill battle for the German, as his RS34 was significantly lacking in pace in the early rounds. Hulkenberg would take Renault's best result on legitimate pace for some time at the British Grand Prix, coming home in 5th.

#### **2019**

2019 looked to bring much of the same. Despite a poor qualifying for Hulkenberg, he would recover well to finish the race in 10th. Hulkenberg came close to his first podium finish since 2015 at the Spanish Grand Prix, but lost out to the McLaren of Lando Norris in the late stages.

Following the British Grand Prix, Toyota submitted a 12 page report to the FIA that Renault were using an illegal automated break bar system on their cars. Such a system is against the sporting regulations, as the drivers must drive the cars unaided, baring a fault. Following an investigation after the British Grand Prix, Renault were found guilty of using such system. They were subsequently disqualified from the race results. An investigation was then launched into if Renault had been using this system prior to the last race. Before any result was concluded, Renault admitted to using the system at every race. This lead to the team being excluded from every race and all their points up to now have been wiped in both the Driver's and Constructor's championships. however, since Renault admitted to using the system, they were still able to compete in the remaining races.

Hulkenberg would rescore his first points of the season at the next race in Germany, finishing 10th. For the Belgian Grand Prix, Renault brought some ultra low-drag wings, dubbed 'Zero-Zero Wings'. The aim was to maximize the straight line performance of the cars, whilst sacrificing any cornering ability the cars had. Hulkenberg seemed to grasp the handling characteristics of the car better than Vergne. The German would start the race from third, and go on to finish the race in second, setting the fastest lap in the process. Vergne could only manage thirteenth in qualifying, and would be involved in an incident in the race, taking away any chance of the 2017 Driver's Champion re-scoring his first points of 2019.

The seasoned veteran wasn't able to secure a top 12 finish for a third successive season, with the final four races cancelled, it left the German little time to do so.

#### **2020**

2020 got off to the best start possible. The German made the most of the weather to maximize his race strategy to finish fourth at the season opener. Upgrades for round 2 made Hulkenberg a serious front runner, finishing third ahead of teammate Vergne. Hulkenberg came close to taking his first win since 2014 at the Monaco Grand Prix. Starting from pole, the German lead the first half of the race, but being held up by slower cars after his first stop, the Alfa Romeo of Josh Tirowee was able to catch and pass the Renault. At the Italian Grand Prix, the German made the most of the improved 2020 Renault engine to finish on the podium. This result moved Hulkenberg back up to 3rd in the Driver's Standings. Hulkenberg came close again to winning his first race since 2014, battling with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen for the win of the Chinese Grand Prix, ultimately finishing under a second behind the Dutchman.

### **Williams (2021)**

Nico Hulkenberg comes full circle and rejoins the team he made his F1 debut with in 2010. Despite falling out of favour at Renault, he showed he can still take the fight to the very best in F1, and will look to push Latifi on track to maximize the performances and point scoring chances, just like Schumacher did last season.

Williams' lack of pace was evident at the opening race, with neither Latifi or Hulkenberg finishing in the points. Hulkenberg finished 13th again in round 2, but as it was a Wildcard Race it yielded 8 points for the German.

It was announced during the week leading up to the French Grand Prix, that the Williams team had been sold to Investment Firm Dorilton Capital. This move secured the long-term future of the team, but would lead to a management restructure, as both Frank and Claire Williams would depart from the team. With the sale came also the team's race entry, so the 22 points already scored by Hulkenberg and Latifi would remain. Latifi retired early on in the race during the race with a mechanical problem, whilst Hulkenberg would go on to finish the race in 12th and secure a point.

Hulkenberg finished the shortened season in 16th, maximizing points scoring opportunities where he could. Hulkenberg retired from F1 at the close of the season.

## Racing Record (Formula One Results Only)

Result in **bold** indicate Championships won.