Who is Nico "The Hulk" Hülkenberg?

December 2nd, 2020

The Hulk has been seen in pink, yellow, orange, black and blue; but who is the man of many suits? Despite his outstanding resume and impressive talent, Nico Hülkenberg is currently out of a contract.

Photos from Racing Point, Essentially Sports, Mark Sutton, Sky Sports, Glenn Dunbar

To understand why Hülkenberg deserves a full time contract in Formula 1, we have to take a look at his resume. Diving in, you will find that F1 is the only series that Nico Hülkenberg has competed in and not won.

Let's start at the beginning of his professional career in 2005 where he dominated the German Formula BMW Championship. In 2006, Hülkenberg advanced to the German A1 GP series where he, again, dominated the championship and grabbed the title of most successful A1 GP driver in history in the process.

In 2007, Hülkenberg drove in the Formula 3 Euro Series where he amassed a number of impressive victories and displayed his outstanding ability to work in traffic and overtake other drivers. In 2008, he won the Formula 3 Euro Series championship and earned himself a ride in the regional GP2 Asia series.

Hülkenberg would qualify on the pole and take multiple wins in his first partial season before moving to the GP2 series in 2009, a direct feeder to Formula 1. In GP2, Hülkenberg took dominant victories and clinched the title with 2 races still remaining in the championship. He is still one of only five drivers to win the GP2 (now Formula 2) championship in his first season. Three of the other drivers to hold this record are on the grid this year: Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and George Russel.

Photo via TheCheckeredFlag.com

Nico Hülkenberg wins the 2009 GP2 Championship

His dominant championship in GP2 led him to a Formula 1 drive in 2010 with Williams, where he showed the rest of the grid he was a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, he found himself replaced by the highly funded Pastor Maldonado for 2011. This was Hülkenberg's first stint as a reserve driver.

In 2012, he signed with Force India where he raced for a year, before making a switch to Sauber in 2013. In 2014, Hülkenberg found himself back with Force India where he would stay until 2017.

During his time at Force India, he also competed in a number of sportscar races to further prove his driving skills and adaptability. In 2015, he won the most prestigious sportscar race in the world, the 24 hours of LeMans on his first attempt. In 2017, he signed with Renault, who chose him to further the development of their new car in the second year of their return to F1. He would stay with the team until 2020, when he was replaced by young Frenchman, Esteban Ocon.

Photo via Formula 1 - FOM

Nico Hülkenberg wins the 24 hours of LeMans on his first attempt while also competing in F1

After all of this success, Hülkenberg never got a chance with a front running team. Bouncing from midfield team to midfield team. He was never given the opportunity to drive for a top level team. Hülkenberg may hold the record for most races without a podium, but he never really had a car that was capable of taking him to the podium. What he did have was consistency and dedication. He simply didn't have the manufacturer or financial backing the big teams look for.

Photo by Glen Dunbar via Motorsport Images/LAT Images

Nico Hülkenberg gets the call-up to drive in the 2020 Eifel GP

His recent one-off performances, on the other hand, have caught the eye of multiple teams. He was not just on reserve for Racing Point at the Eifel GP, he was also contacted by Red Bull (a front running team) to be their reserve driver in the event one of their drivers could not compete. With COVID-19 creating difficult scenarios for many teams and drivers, Hülkenberg has become a hot commodity; being an available, fast, consistent, and dependable driver. In the 3 races he has subbed in for this year, he has earned more championship points than Alfa Romeo, HAAS, and Williams teams combined.

It would be a great injustice for a driver as talented as Nico Hülkenberg to end up "out to dry" in his prime. Fans eagerly await driver announcements for 2021 in hope of a "hulk" return.

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