On August 19, 2020 Nico Hulkenberg will turn 33. That’s an age where a talented driver fundamentally hits what’s famously called the peak. He matures. It’s not about ageing. It’s about hitting that peak performance. So at that age, the 1987-born German driver will be actually just 33 years young.
Heck, that’s not an old age. Surely, in a sport that likens itself to younger talents who have a lot of time on their hands, yes that’s quite a number. But you know, there’s a certain Iceman Kimi Raikkonen who’s still going strong. Isn’t he?
He’s 40. Last year, at Interlagos, he delivered his team’s best drive all year, when he put his Alfa Romeo on P4 on the grid at the end of a rather dramatic contest.
So definitely, in that regard, Nico Hulkenberg, the other Nico from Germany, is anything but old for Formula 1. But then, Hulkenberg, as we know, will be celebrating his birthday away from the grid, not inside the cockpit of an F1 car.
And that’s the real thing that hurts. Unable to secure a drive post that 2019 contract, the former Renault driver had no option but to move out. But here, recently, Nico revealed what remains his biggest plan in the topsy turvy and often unpredictable world of Formula 1 Grand Prix racing.
When asked about if he wishes to return to the world of Formula 1 racing, the mild-mannered and quite likeable former F1 driver shared, “I’m very much up for it, that’s still my goal, my aim, but at the moment It’s tricky to say, a lot of factors in there – and now everything’s upside down anyway.”
While surely, one may argue that the man who drove for no fewer than a decade in the highest annals of Grand Prix racing, having debuted back in 2010 as a 23-year-old Williams driver did get his chances but couldn’t yet manage a podium, let alone a win, there’s no end to those who still rate Hulkenberg and back him.
That won’t change, it appears. Meanwhile, here’s what the German added during an interaction with the official F1.com website:
“I’m staying in contact with people anyway. It’s early. If there’s a chance, I’ll grab it. If it’s a good opportunity and something that really excites me and gets me going then definitely, I will push for that.”
A clean and honest driver, someone who tried to zip past his opponents and wished to drive as fast as he possibly could, Hulkenberg has had several stints in F1, having driven for various teams such as Williams, Force India, and Renault.
He was, and lest it is forgotten, the longest-serving Force India driver, one responsible for the car development and upholding the place of a new team during a difficult early phase for the Indian Formula 1 team, which today, is known as Racing Point.
But that being said, Hulkenberg, who was outscored by new Renault entrant Daniel Ricciardo in 2019 season, has against his name a rather dubious record, yet something the fiercely competitive German would love to rectify soon as he gets a second-wind:
Nico Hulkenberg holds the somewhat unfortunate record of having the highest number of F1 appearances (177) without scoring a podium – and he was asked what his biggest mistake was in all those races.