The return of Hulkenberg: contract as reserve driver proves worth its weight in gold

Nico Hulkenberg is returning to Formula 1. The German has been put forward as a reserve driver as the replacement for the COVID positive Sebastian Vettel. This makes Hulkenberg's reserve contract worth its weight in gold and he also meets a former rival on the track again.

Hulkenberg in F1

Hulkenberg drove nine seasons in Formula 1. The German made his debut for Williams in 2010, but had to leave there after just one year despite a pole in Brazil. In 2012 he returned to the sport. First at Force India, in 2013 at Sauber and then until 2016 at Force India. Renault was Hulkenberg's last employer from whom he received a permanent seat in the sport.

However, Hulkenberg had to make way for Esteban Ocon at Renault at the end of 2019. The Hulk still has the extraordinary record of most races without a podium finish to his name, and will now increase that number of races with Aston Martin. Only if he finishes on the podium will he drive his own record out of the books.

Good backup

This is not the first time Hulkenberg has had to step in as a replacement. Indeed, in 2020 Racing Point, the former Aston Martin, also called him in as a replacement three times. As a replacement for the positively tested Sergio Perez, Hulkenberg participated in the two race weekends in England, although he could not start the first race due to a problem with the car. The second race he qualified an outstanding third and finished handsomely in seventh place.

The performance at the Eifel Grand Prix was perhaps even more handsome. At the last minute, the German was picked off the terrace to race at the Nürburgring. He finished last in qualifying, but drove to a handsome eighth place in the race. With those results, Hulkenberg hoped to secure a seat in F1 in 2021, but he just missed out.

Hulkenberg has never had to rely on his bag of money. The German did not have much sponsorship money behind him and therefore struggled to maintain a place in the sport. As a reserve driver, he was in action a lot in 2020, but it did not yield a seat. In 2021 and 2022, he was and still is Aston Martin's reserve driver, and that is now paying off again.

Reunion with Magnussen

For Hulkenberg this also means a reunion with his biggest rival: Kevin Magnussen. The two have clashed regularly in the past and have also had frequent off-track scuffles. Magnussen was also called in as a replacement for Nikita Mazepin a few weeks ago, although the Dane will be responsible for the entire season at the Haas team.

Hulkenberg's reserve contract is proving to be worth its weight in gold, though, as there is no reserve driver who has had to be called into action so often in the same amount of time. At Aston Martin/Racing Point, there have already been four infections in just over two years for which Hulkenberg had to step up, where we have only seen an infection further down the paddock with Lewis Hamilton. He was even replaced by Williams driver George Russell at the time, which meant that the Williams reserve driver and not the Mercedes one was lucky. Luck then for Jack Aitken, bad luck for Stoffel Vandoorne. In the same period, reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi also filled in for Romain Grosjean for two races and Robert Kubica drove two more races as a replacement for Kimi Raikkonen in 2021.