How older, wiser Hulkenberg rediscovered fun in F1

The black and white furball named Zeus isn’t exactly shy in the presence of people with cameras, repeatedly interrupting
his owner’s photo shoot by getting into the frame.

“In case you didn’t know, he’s the real Prince of Monaco,” Nico Hulkenberg informs GP Racing as he relocates the self-satisfied pooch to a window-shaped opening in the wall next to a two-and-a-half-year-old blonde girl – who a few minutes earlier had been entertaining herself and the strangers taking pictures of her father by blowing dandelions.

Now those strangers are blowing raspberries in an effort
to make her laugh for the family photo. It works. Not only with her but also with her parents, who are posing together just a couple of metres away. After all, if you’re an F1 driver and you’ve already agreed to a photo shoot with an F1 magazine, why not take the opportunity to get some nice family photos into the bargain? 

We’re at the Tete de Chien, at the summit
of the mountain just above Monaco, where
Hulkenberg, his wife, daughter and Zeus live. The occasion is a nice evening stroll in the short break between F1 races. 

Talking to journalists and posing in front of cameras are trappings of an F1 driver’s life Hulkenberg can usually do without. You can tell by his occasionally mischievous responses – he likes to challenge you. But the life is one he enjoys. 

A 10-year career at the top of motorsport, capped at one point by three financially fruitful seasons with the Renault works team, could have served as the ideal glide path to what almost anyone would consider the perfect semi-retirement from racing. In the years following
his departure from Renault he married his
long-term partner Egle Ruskyte, became a
father and, in addition to a handful of ‘supersub’ F1 appearances in the Covid years, became involved in a number of business ventures and worked as a TV pundit. 

“I’ve always had an interest in business and doing deals,” he says of his post-Renault F1 break. “Real estate is always fun. Doing a renovation project you have to be creative, you have to have a vision, understand the process – and usually it’s quite positive as well on the commercial side! I did the TV stuff for two years – that was super fun. I also learned a lot about the other side of my industry.” 

Life for Hulkenberg has been busy since his enforced F1 exile after leaving Renault

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / GP Racing

A part-time TV job, an apartment on the Cote d’Azur, a beautiful family and the pleasure of looking after the four-legged Prince of Monaco... What more do you need? Yet Hulkenberg pushed and pushed for an F1 comeback – even when his only option was Haas, a team that couldn’t offer him more than a few dozen further starts in F1’s midfield, where he had already spent a decade. 

“It’s my love,” he smiles when we ask him to explain himself. “I think at the end of 2019, it was a difficult relationship – and I wanted that time away and break from it. 

“The first two years, I was pretty happy with where I was. I wasn’t missing it too much, but by the third year, that feeling started to creep back in. I kind of felt like I’m probably not done yet. 

"If you’re balanced in life, happy, of course, that translates into better confidence at work"
Nico Hulkenberg

“I think I enjoy it more [now], embrace the time more, probably live it more consciously. Because having had the time off, I understood that there’s a time limit on this –
for me and my career. It’s put things back
in a good perspective.” 

Older, wiser, smarter 

It was an impressive comeback. More importantly, it impressed the right people. Hulkenberg would undoubtedly have finished higher in the standings if Haas’s 2023 car didn’t routinely kill its tyres on Sundays – but Saturdays alone were enough for him to demonstrate that he hadn’t lost a whiff of the speed that made legendary Sauber sporting director Beat Zehnder declare Hulkenberg “the best qualifier” he’d ever worked with. Their only season together in 2013 was enough for the Swiss engineer to draw that conclusion. 

“Yeah, but Beat hasn’t worked with that many drivers,” says Hulkenberg with that signature twinkle in his eye – before laughing as he made us reel off a list of names including Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc... 

Eight Q3 appearances (plus a further two top-10 efforts in sprint shootouts) in arguably the worst car on the grid were probably the main reason that the now departed Andreas Seidl was so keen to lure the Hulk back to Hinwil, pitching first at the end of the 2023 season. And with this year’s Haas being more tyre-friendly, Hulkenberg has had even more opportunities to impress. Allied to more frequent points scoring has been a consistently large qualifying gap to Kevin Magnussen. No wonder his new boss Ayao Komatsu, as Hulkenberg puts it, “fought hard” to keep him in the team. 

Hulkenberg will depart Haas at season's end to join Sauber ahead of its transition into Audi for 2026

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“If you’re in a very good headspace,” he says, “if you’re balanced in life, happy, of course, that translates into better confidence at work. Now, compared with back then, my life is probably a bit more settled.

“I’m older, I got married, have the little one. My life is very focused around family and racing. These are the two main things that take up all my attention and where I put all my energy and I think that’s very positive for me.” 

Most of his racing career is behind him. No more rumours linking him to Ferrari (it’s understood the Scuderia considered him for 2014, before deciding his height was an issue given the packaging issues facing the new hybrid cars), no more pressure to deliver on a promising junior career and, almost certainly, minimal fear of ending up on the sidelines – given his F1 career has already ended twice before. 

“I mean, the pressure is always there in F1,
for everyone” he says, “I feel it. It’s a very simple law in Formula 1: if you don’t perform, you’re going to be replaced. But to be honest, I’ve never had big issues with that pressure. I think I’m quite resistant to it. 

“Obviously now, I’ve had a decent long career already. But it was never... I think ‘fear’ is the wrong word. Maybe the feeling at the beginning of your career is different. You still want to make a name for yourself, achieve things. Now, more than 10 years later, I’m obviously a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit smarter, more experienced – of course it feels a bit different.” 

The environment probably contributes to that feeling. Haas is very different to the intensely corporate Renault. A team focused purely on racing, built by someone like Guenther Steiner, is probably just a much better fit for a straight-talker like Hulkenberg. So the decision to leave it was far from easy. 

“It wasn’t a no-brainer simply because I really enjoy my time at Haas,” he says. “I enjoy working with the team, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with Ayao, with Guenther last year. It feels good.

“Part of me is also still grateful they made the comeback possible and gave me this opportunity to go for this next contract now – without them, it wouldn’t be on the table. I’ve had situations where I didn’t feel so well inside a team – and that’s not great. So now, having that, it’s worth quite a lot and goes a long way.” 

Hulkenberg has rediscovered the joy in F1 after some draining years at Renault

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / GP Racing

The French correction 

Hulkenberg makes no bones about exactly what he
was missing at the end of his three-year stint with Renault. The fun. 

The first two seasons at the French manufacturer didn’t yield the results he expected, nor the results Enstone team boss Cyril Abiteboul promised in that infamous five-year plan to return to the front. Hulkenberg himself, though, was living up to his end of the deal. 

After condemning Jolyon Palmer’s career in 2017, he then had the better of Carlos Sainz. In their only season together, Hulkenberg comfortably outscored the future Ferrari driver, and outqualified him, too – but while such a comparison would have done his image a world of good now, Sainz’s stock wasn’t quite as big then. 

But Daniel Ricciardo’s arrival at the team changed something. It wasn’t the Ricciardo of now, trying to save his career within what everyone knows is a ‘junior’ team. In 2019 it was a different Australian, his arrival a spectacular coup for Abiteboul and Renault. But it was also an investment that needed to be seen to be paying off. 

"The second part of that  [2019] season is when I didn’t feel that support anymore. What we had built in the two previous years then kind of dissolved"
Nico Hulkenberg

“It wasn’t difficult to be his team-mate, per se,” Hulkenberg says of Ricciardo. “But I think just in that time, a few things happened within the team, especially with the management that somehow... yeah, weren’t very positive for me. 

“When you sign a big driver, you convince your boards, you pay the big bucks. But then the car performance isn’t quite where it should be, or where you promised the board, the pressure comes in. Then a few strategy calls against you – and yeah, it shifted in the wrong way for me.” 

The persistent image of Hulkenberg’s season became that Hockenheim crash, or rather the moments after – him in the marshal’s chair, still wearing his helmet, shaking his head at another podium shot lost when he slid off into the barriers on a wet track. It was this race that Abiteboul would later cite as one of the reasons for not renewing Hulkenberg’s contract.

“The fact that podium was not available to him again, I started to think that maybe there’s a curse,” was Abiteboul’s parting message to Hulkenberg in his Netflix interview, in which he forgot to mention that Ricciardo hadn’t finished in the top three that season either. 

Heeding the order to stay behind Ricciardo in the 2019 Canadian GP despite much fresher tyres is a call Hulkenberg today regrets

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Hulkenberg would end the season well behind Ricciardo, but most of that margin opened in the second half of the year. After the Hockenheim race, Hulkenberg was five points behind his team-mate – a tiny gap but one also flattered by the fact he was ordered not to pass Ricciardo in Montreal, even though he was on much fresher tyres. 

“Probably Nico would have had the pace to overtake him, but frankly we said ‘we need that result,’” explained Cyril back then. 

“I didn’t understand it,” recalls Hulkenberg. “That was one of those turning points. Okay, we had a tough season up until that point. But the call to hold position... I could have easily breezed past him. I had much fresher tyres, it would have been a zero-risk overtake. For me, that was a nonsense explanation.” 

He pauses for a second.  

“I should not have obeyed it, in hindsight.
Of course, they wouldn’t have liked it. It would have caused some friction. But... so what? I mean, it happens all the time, that there’s friction in the team – and then the season
goes on, the next race. These days things get forgotten pretty quickly, too! 

“Then I think the second part of that season is when I didn’t feel that support anymore and that we weren’t a team so much with the management. What we had built in the two previous years then kind of dissolved. So, that wasn’t great. Obviously that impacted my performance as well.” 

You may get the feeling that Hulkenberg doesn’t miss working with Cyril. 

“It’s funny that five years on, he’s gone,” he smiles. “I was gone too, but I came back, and I’m still here. That says something. 

Watch: Behind The Visor with Nico Hulkenberg

“Also, one detail I think maybe isn’t so known, is that actually it was Fréd [Vasseur, now Ferrari team boss] who signed me... He got me there. But then, he also had some problems internally and left very soon. So that was also a change.” 

Pick me a winner 

But wait, you might say. In leaving Haas for Audi – a works team for a giant manufacturer whose board wants progression from the bottom to the top of the field – isn’t Hulkenberg potentially entering the same situation? 

Perhaps, accepting that risk reflects an ambition to finally escape that midfield he’s spent his whole F1 life in. Audi has the resources to do so – even if its Sauber team needs a miracle to really close the gap on the likes of Red Bull and McLaren in the years Hulkenberg still has in grand prix racing. 

“They [Audi] have all the ingredients that you need to be successful in Formula 1. And that makes me as optimistic as I can be”
Nico Hulkenberg

“You can’t predict the future,” he says. “But I’ve seen and heard a little bit about what Audi is doing and how they’re pushing behind the scenes. I think there’s one factor, [which] is obviously the 2026 regulation change. It’s a very good opportunity for a manufacturer to come in because it’s kind of a reset button. 

“I think they have all the ingredients that you need to be successful in Formula 1. And that makes me as optimistic as I can be.” 

A key difference to the Renault situation that compelled Hulkenberg to sign was Andreas Seidl's involvement. Hulkenberg won Le Mans with the former McLaren F1 and Porsche WEC team boss, who was the main driving force behind his signing before being ousted for a new leadership structure comprised of former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto and Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. 

“I think he recognised my efforts since the comeback,” Hulkenberg says of Seidl. “He saw that this is good-quality work. And that’s what is appealing to team bosses: they’re looking for performance and for the best possible driver. And that makes me proud and happy – because they’re in a very luxurious situation, they could have chosen grand prix winners, other guys that have better statistics and records than me. And they committed to me. 

Hulkenberg is optimistic that Audi will offer him a shot at the success which has eluded him so far

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“But, having someone in a team that you value, that you’ve worked with, is reassuring. It’s not a guarantee of success. And I think we all know that. But again, it goes back to my point that I think Audi has a very good opportunity with the regulation changes and all the ingredients at their disposal.” 

When we stop after a long chat on the way from the top of the hill to the parking area, there’s only
one question left to ask. The one about the statistics. 

Does the fact that guys like Seidl and Komatsu, who know a thing or two about racing, pushed so hard to sign him mean more than the record he’s always being reminded of – that of having the most starts without registering a podium? 

“If you want to know how I feel about stats... I couldn’t care less,” he laughs. “Of course, I would like to stand here and have grand prix victories under my belt and a world championship, of course. Otherwise, I’m telling lies. But my career went how it went.

“There were a few opportunities missed for different reasons. I have accepted that. I digested that. I feel very happy about my career, and I’m very comfortable in my skin. 

“That a company like Audi, with such a project, would sign me ahead of a lot of guys with grand prix wins, with better stats, is a very powerful statement. I think that says it all.”

Hulkenberg isn't concerned by statistics, and is keen to continue having fun in his F1 renaissance period

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / GP Racing