'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
It was the 2013 F1 Korean GP and young Nico Hulkenberg was holding off the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Driving a midfield underbudgeted Sauber, he took the fight to the more fancied Ferraris and McLarens. The German driver was showing the world what many had already expected when he first debuted in 2010. This was a special talent that had a bright future in front of him
So much so that Martin Brundle even questioned in this very race:
"How is it possible that Nico Hulkenberg does not drive for a top team already?"
Trending
By the time the 2013 season began, Hulkenberg was considered one of the rising stars of the sport. A future seat with one of the top teams was a foregone conclusion in the eyes of many.
However, from the very next season, things began to go against the German.
A possible negotiation with Ferrari to be Fernando Alonso's teammate fell through when Kimi Raikkonen became available. There were talks with other teams as well including McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull but none of them materialised.
That was, however, just the start.
Regulations change, disappointment and frustration (2014-16)
The 2014 regulations revealed why Nico Hulkenberg was not the preferred choice for the aforementioned teams.
A driver's weight proved to be a key factor in the overall weight of the car. This meant tall drivers like Nico Hulkenberg (strangely, one of the very few at the time) were at a severe disadvantage.
Some calculations even indicated a compromise of around a quarter of a second to his Force India teammate Sergio Perez at the time.
To add to this, Hulkenberg was starting to notice a new phenomenon by this time that he had not been aware of before he made his F1 debut. This was the rising prominence of driver academies.
Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren had made it a point to promote drivers that had been groomed in their academies. Hulkenberg's lack of affiliation with either of these teams meant that a path to a frontrunner was almost non-existent for him.
In his three years with Force India, the German went through various phases of disappointment and even demotivation. All of this was evident in his driving as well.
When Fred Vasseur and Renault came calling ahead of the 2017 F1 season, Nico Hulkenberg understandably did not think twice. A works team with a history of winning titles seemingly presented the perfect opportunity for him.
Toxicity, betrayal, and Nico Hulkenberg's departure (2017-19)
In the next couple of years, Nico Hulkenberg spearheaded the Renault project. By the end of the 2018 F1 season, the French outfit was the top midfield team on the grid and had two strong drivers in Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Both helped propel the team to a strong result that year.
Things changed, however, in 2019 when Renault brought home their big signing in Daniel Ricciardo.
The driver was poached from Red Bull and was expected to be the team leader. A multiple-race winner in Ricciardo was a star signing for Cyril Abiteboul, the Renault team principal at the time.
This unfortunately meant that as soon as the 2019 F1 season began, Nico Hulkenberg was forgotten.
After holding his own against Ricciardo at the start of the season, Hulkenberg began fading away. He largely played second fiddle to the Australian and you could see how much media and fan attention was given to Ricciardo during this time.
By the end of the 2019 F1 season, Renault opted not to sign an extension with Hulkenberg and chose to give French prodigy Esteban Ocon a shot.
The German on the other hand had lost all his patience. Even though the details of the situation are still not public, Hulkenberg revealed in 2023 that F1 had become very toxic for him and he wanted to have some time away from the sport.
Whether it was the way Renault completely switched allegiance or whether it was a lack of opportunities with a frontrunner, something had left Hulkenberg disappointed. He then rejected an offer from longtime admirer and Haas team principal Guenther Steiner in 2019 and decided to take a step back from F1.
The return (2023)
Three years away from the sport if we exclude those super sub outings meant Nico Hulkenberg began getting that itch again. The disappointment, the burnout, and the frustration had dissipated by now and he missed racing the world's best machinery around the track.
Ironically, it was the same man whose offer he had rejected in 2019 that gave him the opportunity to come back to F1. This is the new Nico Hulkenberg that we've seen this season, who has come back as changed man.
He's not the same youngster who had debuted in the sport in 2010 with arguably the best junior career of any driver at the time. He's not the man that was itching to get a shot with a championship-winning team to show what he could truly achieve.
The Hulkenberg that left the sport in 2019 was a disgruntled frustrated talent that never got his day in the sun. He was a brilliant driver whose potential remains unfulfilled at best if we look at the decade spent driving midfield cars.
The current iteration of Nico Hulkenberg is a father and got married in his time away from the sport. He understood the realities of the sport and his prospects at 35 years of age. Most importantly, he was content and happy to just race.
The Nico Hulkenberg that has come back is a more mature seasoned veteran. He still loves racing but his world revolves around his kid. He's still a brilliant talent but the fact that his spectacular qualifying on Saturday might yield no point on a Sunday has not disheartened him.
The new Hulkenberg knows he's got a second chance to do what he loves. That is simply to race an F1 car and his lack of expectations from the sport has seen him remind everyone of the talent that he always possessed.
