Now that it has been announced that Nico Hulkenberg will replace Mick Schumacher, it is a good time to look back at the career of the newest addition to the Haas team.

Hulkenberg showed a lot of potential in his junior career. However, he has not been able to live up to the high expectations in Formula 1. Haas' priority has been to capture the best available driver, so not necessarily a younger driver who deserves a chance.

Therefore, the choice of an experienced driver like Hulkenberg is certainly not crazy. Besides, the choice was also very scarce after Daniel Ricciardo pulled out of talks with Guenther Steiner 's team and admitted he will not be on the grid in 2023. Another driver who has lost his seat is Nicholas Latifi, but the Canadian has not performed well enough in his three years at Williams to be a contender.

Choice

That left Haas with basically a choice between Hulkenberg, Antonio Giovinazzi or retaining Mick Schumacher. Of those three, it is Hulkenberg who could make the biggest contribution at Haas in Steiner's view. The 35-year-old is the only one of the trio with a proven track record of 97 points finishes in motorsport's premier class.

Meanwhile, Hulkenberg has spent three seasons on the sidelines, apart from a couple of fill-in appearances. For Racing Point/Aston Martin, he was allowed to replace Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel. In doing so, he showed that he is still capable of making it in Formula 1.

Impressive substitutions

His three fill-ins in 2020 yielded two points finishes, while the two races he got to drive in replacement of Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin at the start of this year were also impressive. Of particular note was that he had never driven the new 2022 cars before. He had also not completed a single simulator session, outperforming his temporary teammate Lance Stroll in Bahrain. He showed enough during those two stints to prove that he can perform at a very good level in a full season with proper preparation.

Remarkably, despite his 181 race starts, the German did not manage to reach the podium once. Hulkenberg, however, is familiar with driving at the front of the field. In 2015, he managed to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is also directly his only race victory since he made the switch to Formula 1 in 2010. In his F1 career, he has completed 161 laps in the top three. As a result, Hulkenberg has shown that he is a fast but also reliable driver.