Nico Hulkenberg through a photo posted in the stories of Instagram he let it be known to the public that follows him that he is in Maranello to work with the Team Haas. In fact, the American team has an office in the municipality of Modena which hosts the Ferrari house.
A quarter of his career as a reserve
Nicolas Hulkenberg, born in '87, is back on the grid for the 2023 season as starting driver for the Haas F1 team, thus taking over from Mick Schumacher and flanking Kevin Magnussen, with whom he never had an idyllic relationship. After three seasons sitting on the pit bench, Nico finally gets on track and not as a substitute. Indeed, after the announcement that Esteban Ocon would be pilot Renault for the season 2020 and the confirmation of the Australian Ricciardo for the same stable, “Hulk” has found himself without a seat after 8 consecutive seasons in Formula One.
However, the new hire of Haas did not leave the Circus and in 2020 replaced the two pilots Racing Point positive results at Covid-19: respectively Perez in British GP and in that of 70 Anniversary and Stroll in Eifel Grand Prix. The following season he signed on for reserve and test driver for Aston Martin and at the same time third driver for Mercedes if Nyck De Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne were involved in Formula E races. Hulkenberg reconfirmed his post from third driver in Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team for the season 2022, replacing Sebastian Vettel in the first two races in Bahrain e Saudi Arabia.
Hulkenberg never so close to Ferrari
Thanks to the choice made last November by Team Principal of the Haas, Gunther Steiner, Hulkenberg finally can pass the gates of the horse house rampant a Maranello, but as some may recall, it came very close in the past!
In 2013 Nico competed for Sauber, which however in the first half of the championship proved to be uncompetitive. The turning point came on the eve of the Grand Prix at Monza, in which the Swiss team made improvements to its single-seaters, allowing Hulkenberg to shine that weekend, obtaining a third place in qualifying and finishing the race in fifth position. From that moment on, the placements of the current number 27 were good, allowing him to finish the season in tenth place in the standings, with 51 points.
The results obtained caused his name to come up often approached to that of Ferrari, who had thought of the German driver as Felipe Massa's heir, to support Fernando Alonso during the 2014 season. After two months of negotiations, however, the top management of the horse opted for the return of Kimi Raikkonen. Although as a Haas driver, after 10 years, Nico Hulkenberg can say that he has crossed the threshold of the house of the red!
ARTICLE BY ARIANNA MILESI
Source: FormulaPassion
