Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have made headlines by continuing to race in Formula 1 in their 40s, but Nico Hulkenberg is the grid’s other veteran.
Despite a three-year gap where Nico Hulkenberg didn’t have a permanent race seat, the 37-year-old has thrived since he returned to Haas in 2023.
He was brought in to replace Mick Schumacher and after two seasons of outperforming Kevin Magnussen, has earned himself a move to Sauber in 2025.
Despite Haas wanting to keep Hulkenberg, team principal Ayao Komatsu couldn’t convince the German to sign a contract extension when he announced his decision to move in April 2024.
At the time, Haas were marginally ahead of Sauber but that gap only grew as the campaign went on, and an eighth-place finish at the Qatar Grand Prix from Zhou Guanyu was the only reason the Swiss outfit didn’t go the entire 2024 campaign without scoring a point.
However, the exciting part of joining Sauber for Hulkenberg will be the imminent takeover of Audi next season as they finally make their Formula 1 debut.
Hulkenberg will be expected to lead that project alongside rookie and Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.
In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Hulkenberg was asked what role he’s likely to play at Sauber this year and compared himself to an experienced former teammate.
Nico Hulkenberg will be ‘a little bit’ like Rubens Barrichello at Sauber in 2025
Hulkenberg made his debut in F1 in 2010 after winning the GP2 championship and when he arrived, Rubens Barrichello was his teammate.
Barrichello had 11 Grand Prix wins to his name but at this point, he was reaching the end of his Formula 1 career.
Hulkenberg was outscored 47 points to 22, although the German will regret not being able to convert his only F1 pole position to date into an elusive podium finish.
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When asked if he’ll be playing the same role at Sauber this year as Barrichello did during his debut season, Hulkenberg admitted: “A little bit.
“It was already extreme back in 2010. Me as an absolute rookie in combination with Tom McCullough, who was already a very good race engineer at the time but just as much of a rookie as I was, against Rubens and Tony Ross, the two experienced drivers in the team.
“Something was missing on those two.”
Nico Hulkenberg shares his personal highlight from his final season at Haas before joining Sauber
Hulkenberg finished 11th in the Drivers’ Championship in 2024, missing out on a top-10 finish by a single point to Pierre Gasly.
That will be especially frustrating as he finished 11th on seven occasions, including when Oliver Bearman pipped Hulkenberg to a point at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix during the final laps of the race.
The 37-year-old was asked about his personal highlight from his final season at Haas and explained: “Of course, the best results are the first to catch your eye, but we drove a lot of good races last year.
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“I could perhaps highlight Austria, where I held off Checo (Perez) over the last 15 laps. Then sixth again in Silverstone.
“Those were huge results for the team and fully confirmed the upgrade from Silverstone. That was a small turning point in the season.”
Hulkenberg might have his work cut out trying to match his two sixth-place finishes from 2024 given where Sauber currently sit in the pecking order.
However, Hulkenberg is already making changes to Sauber’s practices at this early stage of his second spell with the team and that experience could be invaluable going forward.
