How F1's forgotten man is back in fashion

"You're only as sexy as your last race," says Nico Hulkenberg when it's put to him that he's suddenly back in fashion in Formula 1. And he's right.

After all, Hulkenberg is a driver who has played many roles since being signed as Williams test driver back in 2007.

He's been the hot-shot rising star, blazing a Lewis Hamilton-esque trail through the junior categories before becoming a rookie pole-winning sensation with Williams in 2010. Then he was on the bench, a hard-done-by victim after the arrival of Pastor Maldonado and a bagful of Venezuelan bolivars in 2011 before becoming a midfield star on the brink of a move to a big team with Force India and Sauber.

As he moved into F1 middle age, Hulkenberg was seen more as a midfield journeyman whose chances had gone. Now, with re-emerging Renault, he is again making waves as one of the stars of F1's 'Class B'.

Hulkenberg seems like he's been around forever, but he is still only 30 and his career has been revitalised thanks to a combination of F1's major rules change in 2017 and the rise of Renault.

Now, he could be back on a slowburn path to the top - and he's comfortable with having to play the long game as Renault bids to fulfil its plan of becoming an F1 frontrunner once again.

The German has never been one of F1's more aggressive self-promoters. Even during the times when his stock was at its highest points - for example during a stunning run of performances with Sauber in the second half of 2013 during which Fernando Alonso labelled Hulkenberg's performances as "superb" - he's held firm in his belief that results do the talking.

"I'm not too bothered about that - I'm fully integrated at Renault and focused on this project," he says of his rediscovered popularity. "When you perform in a few races, the profile seems to [go] up - and then not. But it's about finding the consistency and being in a good place for yourself."

Currently, the bare numbers favour the interpretation that he's just a good, but not brilliant, F1 driver hanging around and doing a decent job. He holds one of the harshest records in F1 - the most starts without a podium finish, with 141.

He shrugs that stat off whenever asked about it, but that's a record he'd love to hand back to old Force India stablemate Adrian Sutil. And it's something often used to write him off.

The bare numbers favour the interpretation that he's a good, but not brilliant, F1 driver

'If he was that good, he'd have taken podium finishes', is the reasoning. It's true that Sergio Perez's record of four third places during their time as Force India team-mates from 2014-16 tells us something. But it doesn't tell us that Hulkenberg lacks the pace to be a race-winning F1 driver.

Instead, that period exposes the limitations of a driver who had once been on the radar of Ferrari and the Enstone team in its previous guise as Lotus. It's not that he was bad, far from it. But in the second half of 2014, Perez started to get the better of him, and, in terms of pure results, that continued in '15 and '16.

"There were characteristics in those cars, in '14-'16, that don't really belong in F1," says Hulkenberg. "Those cars were not blessed with downforce - the pace was quite slow to start with in '14. We'd lost a lot of downforce and you really had to drive very cautiously and gently, which goes against my nature.

"So I had to adapt and relearn a little bit and figure it out. That's why it's fair to say now it's definitely more fun. It's more F1, and what F1 should be."

This brings us back to why Perez was the one able to get the champagne results. He's a very accomplished, experienced F1 driver and has always excelled on tyre management. So often the races with opportunities for the smaller teams were in conditions that played to his strengths.

That's not to say Perez didn't earn them, as he demonstrably executed the races in question better than Hulkenberg, but the wider picture of that match-up was a little different to the perception.

"He had the better highlights, obviously in that time he had four podiums but otherwise I think we were more or less balanced," says Hulkenberg.

"He's very good on tyre management, and this was a big subject, for those years. That was an area I needed to work on and I got better and better at it. Now it's still a subject, but to a lesser extent."

Topline racing drivers need to adapt to the regulations in front of them, so you still can't blame the rules for Hulkenberg going from looking like a potential superstar to merely a good performer. But like many of his peers, he was never entirely comfortable with the extent of management required in that era and has flourished since.

Like all fashions, Hulkenberg will have to keep delivering to stay in people's minds. After strong finishes in the first three races of the year, during which he had a slight edge over highly rated team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr, he then had a rough spell.

In Baku, he hit the wall while running fifth, behind Sainz. It's the kind of mistake that has occasionally been seen before - specifically last year at the same track when he hit the inside barrier while running in the same position. Those errors contribute to his reputation yo-yoing.

But Renault is certainly the right place for Hulkenberg to be. With F1's established big teams, several of which once had an interest in him, no longer regarding him as a serious contender for a seat, he threw his lot in with the re-emerging team for 2017.

His best hope of getting the podiums and victories he could be capable of was, and still is, Renault getting to the front.

Hulkenberg's stock wasn't at his highest when the deal was done, although he doesn't entirely welcome suggestions that his form from 2014-16 meant that when Renault did sign him it was partly because it didn't have its pick of drivers.

Renault is certainly the right place for Hulkenberg to be

Not that his performances were bad, as Perez had emerged as a dependable and consistent midfield F1 performer, it's just that his stock wasn't as high as it had been in the previous rules era.

"Maybe 2014 wasn't so great, but '15-16 I had some really good races," he says. "Some races where Checo [Perez] was maybe a bit stronger, but a lot of races where I came out on top so I think they were strong years for me too.

"Especially 2016, I remember the second half was very strong. [The Renault deal] was general interest from both sides [team and driver]. I was looking for a factory team, they were looking for a strong driver. The timing was good, so it just all came together."

To ensure he's still there if and when Renault does get into contention for victories, Hulkenberg needs to keep performing. His battle with the formidable Sainz is a particularly interesting one.

In the early races, Sainz complained of struggling with rear-end instability on corner entry, which played a part in him being outqualified three races on the bounce. Since Baku, the Spaniard has been on the form we'd expect of him.

This is partly down to greater familiarity with the Renault team. While Sainz had four races at the back end of 2017 to settle in, he's still only in his first full season at Enstone and is getting on top of the subtleties of the car and team that can make a big difference when it comes to finding the last tenth or so, such as the diff maps.

And while Hulkenberg seemed happier with the car in the first three races, even with that rear-end instability, Sainz has made good progress. Both also had similar feelings about the way the car was behaving.

"We feel the same way about the car and the limitations," says Hulkenberg. "We tend to say the same things and want the same things from the car and the balance, so I also felt that was a limitation. When it comes to qualifying and the race, you have the car you have.

"I'm in a happy place with the car, with my team, with my engineers and my career."

All that Hulkenberg has to do now is to keep it up. His brief shaky spell, which included being wiped out of the Spanish GP by the spinning Romain Grosjean after a fuel problem in qualifying, ended with eighth in the Monaco GP.

But while he was ahead of Sainz, that was down to strategy as much as anything. That's why the battle between the duo will have a significant bearing on Hulkenberg's longer-term hopes with Renault.

While Sainz's position remains uncertain as he's still 'on loan' from Red Bull, should no opportunity open up there he will very likely be signed permanently by Renault. And if Enstone continues the progress it has made and can start to get close to the big three, a seat at Renault could become of more interest to proven race winners.

That's why it's so important for drivers to keep themselves in fashion with good, old-fashioned performances. Hulkenberg still has time to make good on a level of ability that is unquestionably enough to win grands prix in a frontrunning car.

If Renault makes it to that level, and Hulkenberg is no longer there then he will have missed his chance. But if he delivers, he would be there to benefit.

While he has hit 30, Hulkenberg still has time to come good. Jenson Button didn't start winning races regularly until he was 29, while Mark Webber's first victory came when he was almost 33. But if Hulkenberg were to win a race, he'd break the latter's record for most starts before a first victory. He can, if he gets the chance.

There is a touch of brilliance to Hulkenberg that F1 hasn't seen enough of

But there are still questions for him to answer. If he can stay with Renault long-term, and the French manufacturer makes good on its aim to get into the fight at the front, he might finally have the chance to prove what he can do. And get rid of that lack-of-podium record that does him so great a disservice.

There is a touch of brilliance to Hulkenberg that F1 hasn't seen enough of. His pole position in Brazil in 2010 - when he set two laps good enough for pole in damp but drying conditions - as well as some stunning drives to minor placings, are testament to that.

You can argue he hasn't always made it easy for himself, and he'll have to go the long way around to get there, but F1 would benefit from seeing a little more of the flair that Hulkenberg has in his locker. He's the type of driver some of F1's recent rules have stymied.

But if that never happens, he will go down in grand prix history as just another decent driver. Hulkenberg can but hope Renault makes good on its ambition.