The impressive number behind Hulkenberg's 'ruined' F1 race return

Something had to have gone badly wrong for any driver to have had the soft Pirelli tyres fitted to their car during the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

The red-walled rubber was so fragile the Mercedes drivers discarded it for their final runs in Q3, preferring to have their tyres still delivering satisfactory grip come final turns of the Silverstone lap. These were not tyres to try and race on, despite the coronavirus cost-saving rules meaning all drivers had eight sets of them going into the weekend.

Until his third stint in last Sunday's race, it's hard to consider Nico Hulkenberg's efforts as anything other than a shining success - even if his slow getaway from his third place starting spot had made things easier for eventual race winner Max Verstappen. But as he headed into the closing stages of his Formula 1 race return in a solid fifth place, the hard tyres on Sergio Perez's RP20 picked up what Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer called a "severe vibration".

The team felt it had no choice but to call its super-sub back in for a third time and he went onto the softs for his final stint, with Hulkenberg later saying, "I don't think the tyre would have survived to the end" after he his rear hards had picked up two big blisters that meant the vibration "skyrocketed". His fifth place became seventh.

Now, that is very far from a bad result for a driver returning to F1 action after an eight-month lay-off, with no testing in what was - until FP1 for the previous weekend's British GP - a totally unfamiliar car. Plus, Hulkenberg lost the 52 laps of the first Silverstone race and getting further acquainted with the machinery to that clutch bolt failure.

It's just that what seems, at the time of writing, like Hulkenberg's 178th and last GP for now could have finished with the result he deserved. By the time of his third stop, the German driver was 2.134s ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll, with the gap between them fluctuating but generally around 2-2.5s throughout the race (when not running offset by pitstops) until that point.

Charles Leclerc's unexpected one-stop heroics meant fourth would always have been out of reach come the end, but given Alex Albon only demoted Stroll to sixth with three laps to go, there's every chance Hulkenberg could have held on to fifth at the flag. And at the very least would have had the chance show off his defensive skills.

Because as a "temporary guest", as he said after Perez's latest positive COVID test ruled the Mexican out of the 70th Anniversary GP, this was all about Hulkenberg doing his best for Racing Point and showing what he can do to potential future employers.

"I'm happy to have scored points for the team," he explained. "P7 is a good result, especially when you haven't raced for [eight] months. It wasn't an easy race, and it was tough physically, but first of all, it was important that I made a good start and got through the first lap because once the race settled down I could use my experience of managing tyres and driving these types of Formula 1 cars.

"I was quite relieved after I got through the first few corners!"

"He definitely deserves to be in F1 - there are definitely a few drivers who are not as good as him at the moment, and they are in F1" Max Verstappen

Szafnauer added: "We chose to play it safe and pit Nico a third time when his tyres picked up a severe vibration. I think it was a sensible decision and I'm pleased he could still score good points after stepping into the car only last week."

Digging into Hulkenberg's times before his unexpected final stop reveals some impressive numbers, with one in particular standing out. Across the first stint, which both Racing Point drivers ran on the medium tyres with which they had safely negotiated Q2 (although Hulkenberg's Chapel off on his first run increased the pressure on him escaping that segment), Hulkenberg averaged 1m32.794s vs Strolls 1m32.949s. This put him 2.664s clear the lap before he pitted for the first time.

Now, Stroll ran three laps longer on the opening stint, and when they both took hards, Stroll was 0.063s quicker across the 11 laps between his first stop and Hulkenberg's second. So, these effectively cancel each other out in terms of one of the two having a clear edge, but Hulkenberg's times during his third and ultimately maximum-result-ruining third stint are fascinating.

Despite the vibration issue coming into play as the stint wore on, Hulkenberg's average for those 12 laps was 1m31.298s vs Stroll's 1m31.331s, which meant he was going faster even with the issue that cost him a better result. Now, Stroll earns credit for making his tyres last and avoiding a third stop, but that is nevertheless impressive given Hulkenberg lacked any race experience with the RP20 and the severe challenge the softer compounds posed across the grid last weekend.

As Autosport goes to press, it is not yet clear if Perez will return for this weekend's Spanish GP, although Szafnauer says Racing Point is "99% sure" he will. If he doesn't, then Hulkenberg's 2020 cameo will continue.

Even though his wait for an F1 podium must go on - and despite the controversial pace of the RP20, it still requires F1's two fastest cars to hit trouble for it to be in rostrum contention - Hulkenberg's Q3 lap (and his race pace before that final stop) will serve as a reminder of his talents.

It was a majestic qualifying lap. At no point did Hulkenberg look like he was in danger of going past the limit - he was in control and rapid. His response to finding himself in the top three for the first time in four years was as calm and controlled - Hulkenberg's cool persona at play.

"In Q3 I didn't think much," he said in the post-qualifying press conference, typically unfazed. "I was just giving it everything, trying to squeeze everything out of the car and the tyres and myself, which is also a challenge this weekend. [I'm] quite happy to be here.

"We always had good one-lap pace this weekend. I was pretty confident we could make it into the top 10. To be third, [I] couldn't really expect that and didn't really expect that to be honest. Of course, a bit of a surprise, but a nice one to take."

So now Hulkenberg's F1 career future returns to uncertainty, although he says he has had discussions with various paddock figures about a full-time return in 2021.

The trouble is, there are few seats available as things stand. Of the logical teams to consider, a move to Haas is possible given the driver rumblings at that squad in recent seasons, but its actual future F1 participation is in doubt. A return to what is now Alfa Romeo, where he raced in its Sauber guise in 2013, is also surely an option - but this would require Kimi Raikkonen to vacate his seat given Ferrari controls who gets the other.

Whatever happens in Hulkenberg's future, he can look back on those two sunny Silverstone weekends with pride

And then there's the Perez factor. If he loses his Racing Point/Aston Martin drive to Sebastian Vettel, then his skills and backing are on the market for 2021 and would be valuable assets to those two teams.

Verstappen led the drivers congratulating Hulkenberg after his stunning qualifying - saying: "He definitely deserves to be in F1 - there are definitely a few drivers who are not as good as him at the moment, and they are in F1". But any chance of them being team-mates would require Red Bull to do what it has not done since Mark Webber joined for 2007 and not promote from within its junior fold, however slim that is these days.

Whatever happens in Hulkenberg's future, he can look back on those two sunny Silverstone weekends with pride. He has reminded F1 of his quality.