Early promise, home heartbreak and multiple comebacks – Hulkenberg's F1 journey to his first podium

Nico Hulkenberg achieved a fairytale result in the British Grand Prix by finally clinching his debut F1 podium, an accolade that had eluded him during his previous 238 race starts. It was perhaps made all the sweeter by the fact that the journey to this milestone has been far from straightforward for the German driver, whose path has been filled with highs and lows since his debut some 15 years ago…

From Williams debut to return with Force India

After an impressive rise through the junior ranks – culminating in winning the GP2 title in 2009 – Hulkenberg was promoted to Formula 1 in 2010, making his debut for Williams at the age of 22. Amid mixed fortunes throughout the campaign, the highlight for Hulkenberg came when he grabbed a surprise pole position at the penultimate round in Brazil.

Despite this, the rookie was replaced by Pastor Maldonado in 2011. Left without a seat on the grid, Hulkenberg became a test driver for Force India before making his full-time return with the team in 2012.

After a one-year stint with Sauber in 2013, Hulkenberg rejoined Force India one year later and continued to race for the outfit through to the end of 2016. Throughout it all, his best result was a P4 finish achieved on three occasions.

But the German racer gave motorsport fans an additional reminder of his talent by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche during a weekend off from F1 in 2015, making him one of a select number of Formula 1 drivers to triumph in the iconic endurance race.

Switch to Renault and second exit from F1

In 2017 Hulkenberg made the switch to Renault, at a time when the Enstone-based squad looked to be on an upward trajectory. The 2018 campaign started to deliver on that promise, with the outfit climbing to fourth in the Teams’ Championship while Hulkenberg finished a career-best P7 in the Drivers’.

The 2019 season proved to be a tougher one. A maiden podium looked to potentially be on the cards for Hulkenberg in front of his home fans at the German Grand Prix – the Renault driver having at one stage been running in P2 – but, amid mixed conditions, he crashed out of fourth place, an incident that he admitted was “hard to swallow” at the time.

At the end of the year, Hulkenberg faced his second exit from F1 after being replaced at the team by Esteban Ocon – but, once again, the man from Emmerich am Rhein would find a way back onto the grid…

‘Hulkenback’ leads to full-time comeback

Whilst on the sidelines in 2020 – during a shortened Formula 1 season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic – Hulkenberg was called upon to replace Sergio Perez at Racing Point for the British Grand Prix due to the Mexican testing positive for the virus.

After a solid Qualifying, Hulkenberg was unable to start the race owing to a technical problem on the car – but one week later at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, the German driver impressively put the Racing Point machine in third on the grid and then scored points with a P7 finish.

He took home more points after substituting for an unwell Lance Stroll later in the season at the Nurburgring – and, while his services were not required in 2021, there were two more ‘Hulkenback’ appearances in 2022, this time to replace a COVID-positive Sebastian Vettel for two races at Aston Martin.

All of this was enough to earn Hulkenberg a third full-time stint in F1 as he signed to Haas for 2023. Partnered with foe-turned-friend Kevin Magnussen, the veteran driver’s experience and consistency helped the American outfit to take steps forward, with a P7 in the 2024 Teams’ Championship being their strongest finish since 2018.

Podium dream realised with Kick Sauber

Hulkenberg’s performance at Haas again caught the eye of others in the paddock – including Kick Sauber, who agreed a deal with the German for 2025 ahead of the team’s transition into Audi in 2026.

It was not the easiest start to the campaign for the squad – with a long point-less run between Rounds 2 and 8 – but Hulkenberg again displayed his consistency by embarking on a string of top-10 finishes from Round 9 in Spain onwards.

There was joy for the team when both Hulkenberg and rookie team mate Gabriel Bortoleto scored in Austria – but just one week later at Silverstone, the prospects of achieving this again seemed slim when a tough Qualifying saw Bortoleto start in P16 while Hulkenberg was down in P19.

However, that all changed in dramatic fashion on race day. Amid changing weather conditions, Hulkenberg made his way through the field and managed to fend off a chasing Lewis Hamilton to hold onto P3, finally clinching his first F1 podium on his 239th start.

The 37-year-old has now well and truly ridded himself of that infamous statistic of being the most experienced driver to have never stood on the rostrum – that dubious honour now falling to his fellow German Adrian Sutil, on 128 Grand Prix starts.

Speaking after the race, Hulkenberg summed up his journey to this point as he reflected with a smile on his face: “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? I always knew we have it in us, and I have it in me somewhere.”