Nico Hulkenberg

**Nicolas Hülkenberg** is a German professional racing driver who currently races in Formula 1.5 for Haas. Hulkenberg has won 2 F1.5 World Championships in 2012 and 2018 with Force India and Renault.

Hülkenberg raced in Formula 1.5 in 2010 with the Williams team, he was not retained for 2011 and joined Force India as a test and reserve driver. He was promoted to a race seat with the team for the 2012 season, joining Paul di Resta. In 2013 he drove for the Sauber team, with Mexican driver Esteban Gutiérrez as his teammate. Hülkenberg returned to Force India for the 2014 season. In October 2016, it was confirmed that he would switch to Renault for 2017. He was replaced by Esteban Ocon for the 2020 Formula 1.5 season. He returned to Formula 1.5 in 2020, driving for Racing Point in three races. A further return was made in 2022 with Aston Martin in the opening two rounds because of Sebastian Vettel testing positive to COVID-19

## Personal Life

Nico Hülkenberg was born in Emmerich am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany to Klaus Dieter and Susanne Hülkenberg. Dieter Hülkenberg owns a shipping company, Hülkenberg Spedition e. K, based in Emmerich am Rhein. Hülkenberg trained as a freight forwarding agent at his father's company. He is fluent in Dutch, German, French and English.

## F1.5 Career

### Williams (2010)

#### 2010 Season- Debut Season

On 2 November 2009, Hülkenberg was confirmed to race for Williams in 2010. Hülkenberg's teammate for his first season would be the experienced driver Rubens Barrichello.

Hülkenberg made his debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix, recovering from an early spin to finish in eight position. At the second round in Australia, he was involved in a first-lap incident with Kamui Kobayashi, after the Japanese driver's front wing failed and sent him into the barrier, rebounding into the path of Hülkenberg. At the third round in Malaysia, Hülkenberg made it to Q3 for the first time. Hulkenberg would go on to take 3 podiums in the year with second place finishes at Hungary and Italy and a third place at Brazil. Hulkenberg also took his maiden pole for the team at Brazil in changable weather conditions.

owards the end of the season there were reports that he could lose his seat at Williams to the GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado due to the money Maldonado could bring to the team. Force India's Adrian Sutil was also linked to replace Hülkenberg at Williams. After the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, team boss Frank Williams confirmed that Hülkenberg would not be driving for the team in 2011.

### Force India (2011-2012)

#### 2011 Season- Test Driver

On 26 January 2011, Hülkenberg was confirmed as Force India's reserve driver for the 2011 season, where he would drive for the team in the Friday practice sessions. He replaced Paul di Resta, who was promoted to a race position in the team. Hülkenberg competed in the first practice sessions of all the races apart from Monaco, Hungary, Korea, India and Abu Dhabi.

#### 2012 Season- World Champion

On 16 December 2011, Force India announced di Resta and Hülkenberg would be their drivers for the 2012 season. Hülkenberg qualified ninth for the Australian Grand Prix, six places ahead of di Resta, but his race ended on the first lap after picking up damage in a first-corner incident before retiring further round the course. He picked up his first points for Force India the following weekend, at the Malaysian Grand Prix; he finished in fith place.

Nico didn't take his first podium of the season until Monaco, where he finished third moving him into fith place in the drivers standings. It wouldn't be long until he was back on the podium though as just two race's later at the European GP he finished second to promote him to fourth in the standings, but still 54 points off of championship leader, Nico Rosberg. It would be two fourth places and a third to finish the first half of the season.

Upon return in Belgium, Hulkenburg took his maiden win in F1.5 with a 25 second gap back to runner up- Schumacher. This result moved Hulkenberg to second place in the drivers standings whilst still 33 points away from Rosberg. Hulkenberg failed to impress at the next race with a non score finishing 15th, and loosing 15 points on Rosberg. He would loose more ground in Singapore with a 7th place finish compared to Rosberg's 2nd place. Hulkenberg had now fallen to fourth in the drivers standings with a 59 point deficit to leader Rosberg.

In Japan, Hulkenberg came home in second place behind the home-boy winner Kobayashi. Hulkenberg then took his first pole of the year at the next round in Korea. Contact for Rosberg put him out of the race on the second lap of the race whilst Hulkenberg took the win, to move back into second in the standings, just 16 points behind leader Rosberg. The next round was India where Rosberg and Hulkenberg lined up third and fourth on the grid. Hulkenberg was upto second by the end of the first lap whilst Rosberg remained in third, Hulkenberg would go on to win the race with Rosberg finishing third. Hulkenberg was now just 6 points behind Rosberg in the standings with 3 rounds left.

Round 18 saw Hulkenberg retire on lap 1 after a collision with two other's drivers. It looked to be over for his championship hopes, however Rosberg later on had a collision with one of the HRT cars also putting him out of the race. In the penultimate round of the season in America, the top 5 in the championship could all still win the championship. In the end result Hulkenberg took the race victory with Rosberg in sixth. Hulkenberg now lead the standings with one race to go.

The final race of the season saw only Rosberg and Hulkenberg with a chance to win the title. An eventful, wet-dry race saw Hulkenberg bring home the win and Rosberg in 9th. Nico Hulkenberg was World Champion for the first time in his career.

### Sauber (2013)

#### 2013 Season- A one year deal

On 31 October 2012 Sauber confirmed they had signed Hülkenberg for the 2013 season to replace Kamui Kobayashi.

Hülkenberg failed to start the Australian Grand Prix due to a leak in the fuel system of his Sauber C32. In the next round at Malaysia he won the race. Hulkenberg took pole for the first time in the season at Round 12 in Italy, which transpired into his second victory for 2013. Things looked up taking third at the next round and then two more wins consecutivley. Hulkenberg took two more podiums in the year in the final two races to finish the season third in the standings.

### Return to Force India (2014-2016)

#### 2014 Season- Returning ways

On 3 December 2013, Force India confirmed they had signed Hülkenberg for 2014 to race alongside Sergio Pérez. In the first round, Hülkenberg finished the Australian Grand Prix in fith place – his first finish in Melbourne – but was promoted to fourth. In Malaysia, Hulkenberg battled Fernando Alonso for the win but ultimatley finished second place. Hulkenberg fishing second at the next two race's as well. Hulkenberg took 8 podiums through the season, all finishing second place. He finished the season in third in the championship with 254 points compared to team mate Perez who scored 198 in sixth.

In October 2014, Force India confirmed they had re-signed Hülkenberg for 2015.

#### 2015 Season- Uncompetitive

The 2015 Force India was very uncompetitive compared to previous years, which saw Hulkenberg struggle to score big. In the first 7 rounds of the season he finished a high of fourth. Round 8 in Austria did see him take his first podium of the season with a third place finish. In Hungary, mid-race, he suffered a big crash at turn one when his front wing detached and he drove over it, sending him slightly airborne and into the barriers, costing him a potential podium if not win. In Belgium, he had a power unit failure on the way to the grid, while in Singapore, he was tagged by Felipe Massa at turn three and spun into the barriers, and received a three place grid penalty after being deemed responsible. In Russia he spun at turn two at the start and collected Marcus Ericsson. He did however take 2 podiums in the final 2 races.

Hulkenberg finished the season with 133 points in 7th place, whilst Perez outscored him with 193 in fourth. Force India also finished third in the constructors behind Williams and Red Bull.

#### 2016 Season- Constructors Champions

Hülkenberg again raced for Force India in 2016 alongside Sergio Pérez.

In the opening round in Australia, he finished third. He would finish the next two races in 10th and 9th with the Force India being uncompetitive. In Russia, he was hit by his former teammate Esteban Gutiérrez and retired from the race. He would also retire from the next race with an oil leak. In Monaco, it looked as if he could win the race but his strategy let him down to finish third behind his teammate and Alonso. The next two race's also saw him finish on the podium in second then in third. He spun in qualifying during the 2016 European Grand Prix held at Baku, when the Force India was very competitive. In Austria, his brakes failed and he had to retire. After this he scored at the next 5 races which included back-to-back wins in Germany and Belgium. In Singapore, he was involved in a first lap collision, where he was squeezed between two drivers, and had to retire from the race. Having announced his decision to move to Renault for the 2017 season before the 2016 United States Grand Prix, Hülkenberg put on some rejuvenated performances. He qualified on pole in the US, before retiring after being squeezed in between Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel. He then put it on pole again at the next race in Mexico, and went on to win the race. He then took third and a win in the final two race's,

Hulkenberg finished the season in third in the championship, for the third time in his career. He scored 253 points, whilst teammate Perez went on to become champion with 308 points. Force India went on to win the constructors title ahead of reigning champions Williams.

### Renault (2017- 2019)

#### 2017 Season- New Foundations

On 14 October 2016, Renault Sport announced that Hülkenberg had signed a multiyear agreement to race with the Renault Sport.

He finished 6th in the first two races of 2017, before improving to fourth in round 3 at Bahrain. It was then two podiums on the bounce at Russia and Spain finishing third in both races. His point scoring streak ended in Monaco when he retired, when running in the points, with gearbox issues. In Canada it was a return to the podium with another third place finish. Followed by a retirement in Azerbaijan, when he clumsily clipped the wall while running in a podium position. In Austria, he finished 8th being beaten by new teammate Jolyon Palmer for the first time.

A new Renault upgrade brought massive improvement at the 2017 British Grand Prix as Hülkenberg qualified on pole and then going on to take the win, his first for his new team. He was then leading the race in the next race in Hungary before a retirement. There was an incident during the race, when Kevin Magnussen had pushed Hülkenberg off the track as they were battling for position. Magnussen received a time penalty for the incident. Hülkenberg confronted Magnussen while he was interviewed by Danish TV in the media pen, labelling him 'nasty' and the 'most unsporting driver of the whole grid' and Magnussen foul-mouthedly responded with 'suck my balls, mate'.

Hülkenberg returned from the summer break in Belgium in good form as he qualified once again on pole before taking his second win of the season. The next race at Italy only saw him finish 7th. At Singapore, it was announced that Carlos Sainz Jr. would replace Jolyon Palmer, who at that time had scored 45 points for the 2018 season. At the same race it was pole position again for Hulkenberg but an oil leak brought about his retirement from the race.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, it was announced that Carlos Sainz Jr. would replace Palmer for the rest of the season beginning at the next Grand Prix in Austin. In the race, he was running comfortably in the points for the majority of the race, when a failure in the DRS mechanism of his car, meant he had to retire from the race. In their time together as teammates Hülkenberg scored 133 points to Palmer's 68 points and outqualified Palmer in all 16 races. In the USA, Hülkenberg retired on lap 4 with an engine issue. In Mexico, he once again retired, again from the lead, with an engine issue. This was the third time in a row that he had failed to finish a race and the fourth time in five races. Hulkenberg did eventually score again in Brazil finishing fourth ahead of Sainz. In the final race at Abu Dhabi, Hulkenberg won from pole position, having received a contentious 5-second penalty for passing Sergio Pérez off the track at the start of the race, when many believed he should have given the position back. He ended up building enough of a gap to Pérez that the time penalty did not affect his position. The win meant that Renault beat Haas to third in the constructors standings by just 2 points.

Hulkenberg finished the season in 5th in the standings with 170 points.

#### 2018- Double World Champion

For the 2018 season, Hülkenberg remained at Renault, alongside Carlos Sainz, who was competing in his first full season for the Renault team.

Hülkenberg and Renault started the season well with a second place finish at the first round and a third place finish at the second round, followed by his first win of the season at round 3 in China. At the fourth race of the season in Baku, Hülkenberg was handed a 5 place grid penalty for changing his damaged gearbox. He qualified 3rd and would start 8th. He had made his way up to the lead by lap 10, when he lost the rear of his car on lap 10, and clattered the wall with his left rear tyre and retired with suspension damage. It was second time in two years that he had retired from a top 3 position in Baku from an unforced error.

Hülkenberg's misfortune continued at the next race in Spain. He went out in Q1 for the first time in 59 races due to a fuel pressure problem with his car. Then he was taken out by the spinning Romain Grosjean on the first lap of the race. Hülkenberg criticised Grosjean's driving following the crash, for which the Frenchman received a grid penalty for the next race. In Monaco, Hülkenberg was outqualified by a teammate by merit for the first time since the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. Nevertheless, he finished the race in 3rd, with his teammate Sainz obeying team orders late in the race to let him past. In the next round Hulkenberg won the race with teammate Sainz finishing second. This meant that Hulkenberg now lead the drivers standings by just 1 points over Sainz.

The next three races made up Formula One's first ever triple header in France, Austria and Britain. Hülkenberg finished 3rd in France, retired in Austria with an engine failure. It was his 3rd retirement in 6 races and his 7th retirement in his last 16 races. However, he finished the triple header on a high, winning the race and now leading the championship by 15 points over Kevin Magnussen. Hulkenberg then won the next race which was also his home race, when he overtook Magnussen on track late in the race. This meant Hulkenberg now had a 34 point lead in the drivers standings. Issues with refueling saw Hulkenberg take limited damage at Hungary finishing 7th. Magnussen finished the race 2nd and closed the lead to 22 points.

In Belgium, Hülkenberg triggered a massive first corner collision after starting last due to engine penalties. Hülkenberg outbraked himself and hit Fernando Alonso, who was launched above the Sauber of Charles Leclerc, with one of Alonso's tyres hitting the new controversially introduced safety device, the halo. The collision also ultimately ended the races of both Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo. Hülkenberg was deemed to have 'completely misjudged the situation' by the race stewards and handed a 10 place grid penalty for the next race. The spectacular crash was likened to the crash at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix initiated by Romain Grosjean. Following the incident, Hülkenberg who had been a vocal opposer to the halo, introduced in 2018, admitted that it was 'pretty useful'. Magnussen scored a further 12 points to bring the lead down to just 10 points.

Renault lost competitiveness in the next four race's with Hulkenberg not scoring any podiums. Over this period Force India had closed the gap and had now became the challenger to Hulkenberg. After those four race's the lead of Hulkenberg's drivers championship was 6 points over Sergio Perez. The team bounced back with form in the United States with Hulkenberg leading home Sainz for a Renault 1-2 finish. This saw Hulkenberg re-extend his lead in the championship to 16 points over Perez. The strong pace continued in Mexico, with another win for Hulkenberg. Perez and Sainz failed to score in the race which handed Hulkenberg a lead of 41 points over Perez, with only 50 points remaining in the season. Hulkenberg failed to see the finish in both of the final race's but neither Sainz or Perez could catch Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg was now officially a Double World Champion.

Hulkenberg scored 243 points over the season, whilst Sainz scored 235 in the runners up spot. This also gave Renault their first constructors victory since 2002.

#### 2019 Season- A final full season

For the 2019 season, Nico Hülkenberg was joined at Renault by multiple Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo, who was signed from Red Bull. Nico said 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. Meanwhile, Renault managing director, Cyril Abiteboul, believed that the driver pairing was "one of the strongest - if not the strongest - driver line-up on the grid".

Hülkenberg started the season strongly, outqualifying new teammate Ricciardo at his home race, but an engine issue prevented him from reaching Q3, leaving him 11th. He made a very strong start and finished the race in 2nd. However, he was hit by misfortune in the next race in Bahrain. An engine mapping issue restricted him to 17th in qualifying. However, he had a fantastic race, moving up 11 places and being on course to win, surviving contact with Ricciardo on the way, when the Australian slid into him as Hülkenberg overtook him. Then, on lap 53, 4 laps from the end, disaster struck as both Hülkenberg and Ricciardo, oth retired with engine issues at the same corner. Abiteboul stated that Renault's engine problems were "unacceptable". These issues were compounded, when Hülkenberg again retired from a points-scoring position with engine issues at the next race in China, this time with a software issue. n Spain, Hülkenberg crashed in qualifying and damaged his front wing. He had to fit a different specification front wing, which broke parc fermé rules, ensuring he would have to start the race in the pit lane. He would finish the race in 7th. A chance of a podium was stripped away from Hulkenberg in Monaco when Leclerc hit Hülkenberg, while attempting an overtaking move, which the German labelled "too ambitious". Both drivers suffered punctures. Hülkenberg recovered to 8th. The next two race's looked up finishing both on the podium in second and third place. At the British Grand Prix, he recovered to a 5th-place finish, after he was hit by former teammate Sergio Pérez and his engine momentarily failing and going into 'limp mode', whilst also bemoaning the team's strategy. Hülkenberg then crashed out of his home race in precarious wet conditions. He was leading the race when he crashed out at Turn 16. At the following race in Hungary, Hülkenberg was in the running for points, but then he suffered yet another engine problem on his Renault, which meant he was only able to finish in 6th place. Going in to the summer break Hulkenberg had scored 87 points to Ricciardo's 112.

Just before the Belgian GP it was announced by Renault that Hülkenberg would be replaced by Mercedes reserve driver and former Force India driver Esteban Ocon for the 2020 season. Hülkenberg said the decision was "not only about performance", alluding that the French Renault team desired a French driver, such as Ocon. Four-time World Champion Alain Prost, non-executive director for Renault Sport, said that Renault offered Hülkenberg a new one-year contract, but the German refused the offer.

Hülkenberg would continue with Renault for the rest of the season, and started the second half of the season strongly by qualifying on pole in Belgium. A scrappy race saw him finish third. In Italy, both Renaults had a very strong weekend, with Ricciardo and Hülkenberg qualifying 1st and 2nd, which is also where they finished the race.

In Singapore, Hülkenberg had initially qualified 9th but as teammate Daniel Ricciardo had been disqualified from qualifying as his car exceeded the MGU-K power limit, he started the race in 8th. In the race, Hülkenberg was involved in a first lap collision with former teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Both drivers suffered punctures and had to pit on the first lap and fell to the back of the field. However, he managed to recover to 3rd place. misfortune hit Hülkenberg in Japan. He was restricted to only 15th in qualifying, after a mechanical failure in Q2 meant he could not set a representative time to progress further. However, in the race he made a fantastic start and was up to 10th place by the end of the first lap and he would end up finishing 5th. However, following a protest by rival constructor Racing Point, both Renault cars were disqualified for having a pre-set automated brake bias system that was deemed to be a driver aid, and thus illegal. This was Hülkenberg's first disqualification in his entire F1 career. He would finish fourth at Mexico and USA. He was voted Driver of the Day in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, taking the title for the first time, after finishing 6th in what was his possible final race in Formula One, having failed to secure a drive for the 2020 season.

Hulkenberg finished the season in 6th with 177 points compared to Ricciardo with 208 in fourth. Renault finished second in the constructors standings after a tight fight with Racing Point and Toro Rosso.

### Racing Point (2020)

#### 2020 Season- SuperSub

Hülkenberg did not have a contract for the 2020 F1 season. He replaced Sergio Pérez at Racing Point for the British Grand Prix and 70th Anniversary Grand Prix after Pérez tested positive for COVID-19. For the British Grand Prix he qualified ninth but did not start the race due to an engine failure before the start of the race. Hülkenberg would get another chance to race for the team at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix also at Silverstone Circuit after Pérez tested positive for COVID-19 again. He qualified on pole position and was oncourse to win however Hülkenberg unexpectedly had high levels of tyre wear, which forced him to pit again. He then went on to finish seventh behind teammate Lance Stroll. Hülkenberg did not race at the Spanish Grand Prix as Sergio Pérez returned to racing after testing negative for COVID-19. He would replace the team's other driver, Lance Stroll, for the Eifel Grand Prix after the Canadian had sat out final practice due to feeling unwell. He finished the race in 4th after qualifying 16th, and last, on the grid, winning him the fans' vote of "Driver of the Day".

### Aston Martin (2022)

#### 2022- Step in for Sebastian Vettel

After continuing as the reserve driver for the team in 2022, he replaced Sebastian Vettel at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix after Vettel tested positive for COVID-19. Although he didn't score in round 1, he did finish 6th in the second round to score 8 points.

### Haas (2023)

#### 2023- A return to full time racing

In November 2022 it was confirmed Hülkenberg will drive as a full time F1-driver with Haas F1 Team during 2023, partnering Kevin Magnussen and replacing fellow German compatriot Mick Schumacher. The first race at the Bahrain Grand Prix saw Hülkenberg 8th behing teammate Magnussen. He scored better in the second round in Saudi Arabia, finishing 5th before taking his first podium for Haas in Australia finishing second.