"Career Killer" Nico Hulkenberg beating Carlos Sainz at Renault in 2018 did not come as a surprise to former F1 driver

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer recently recalled how Nico Hulkenberg dominated Carlos Sainz when both were in Renault F1 team back in 2018. He also praised the German driver for having a quick one-lap qualifying pace and was not surprised by his prowess.

In 2017, Palmer and Hulkenberg were teammates at Renault and the latter dominated by consistently scoring points. On the other hand, the British driver struggled to score points and even retired from four races. Hence, he was soon replaced by Carlos Sainz mid-season.

In 2018, Hulkenberg once again stayed one step ahead of his new teammate and kept scoring more points than Sainz. In the entire season, the German driver was ahead of Carlos Sainz in terms of points (69-53), race results (8-4), qualifying (13-8), fastest laps (10-8), and more.

Speaking on Beyond The Grid podcast, Jolyon Palmer recently stated that it did not surprise him that his successor, Carlos Sainz, was dominated by Nico Hulkenberg. Though he praised the Spaniard, he stated that Hulkenberg is one of the best drivers as well, particularly on a one-lap pace.

He added how Kevin Magnussen, Hulkenberg's current teammate at Haas, is also beaten by the German in a similar manner as he was back in 2017.

"It didn't surprise me. Carlos is a great driver, but I just think Hulkenberg is...he's rapid. On one lap, I still think he's one of the best out there. In fact he's now doing to Kev [Kevin Magnussen], a similar thing to what he has done to me. He's beating him comprehensively on one lap which also doesn't surprise me," Palmer said (at 43:04)

Magnussen's got his own strengths, he's very good in the race, but if you want to stack up to someone on one lap quali, Hulkenberg is generally the career killer. He's so fast," he added.

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Jolyon Palmer on how Nico Hulkenberg was a "tough teammate" to race against

Jolyon Palmer talked about how Nico Hulkenberg posed a major on-track challenge when both were teammates with each other in Renault in 2017. The same year Hulkenberg joined, Palmer left the team and retired from the sport.

Speaking on Beyond the Grid podcast, the former F1 driver speculated that if he had someone else as a teammate and not Hulkenberg, his future in the sport could have been different. He then praised the German driver for his pace and how it was difficult to compete against.

"I think so much of Formula 1 is about comparing to your teammate, and being in the right place at the right time. I think having had the experience I had I think Nico Hulkenberg is a tough teammate to be up against. And had someone else come in and taken that Renault seat had someone not employed such a fast driver alongside me, maybe everything would have would have gone differently," Palmer said at 41:13

In half of the 2017 F1 season, Nico Hulkenberg was ahead of Palmer in terms of points (34-8), race results (5-3), and qualifying (15-0).