With an anything-but-spectacular Formula One podium record, it’s hard to see on paper why Nico Hulkenberg is such a highly rated driver. The German, who is now in his third season with the Renault Sport factory team, holds the unwanted record of having the most career starts without a podium finish with a jaw dropping 158 starts. On the contrary, a man from Britain, who was equally lauded as Hulkenberg in his junior career, called Lewis Hamilton took his first podium in his very first start. He has gone on to win five Formula One World Championships while Hulkenberg has been a journeyman of sorts, driving for multiple midfield teams. However, under the thick skin of bad luck, lies a quality driver with the potential to still be a World Champion. But does Nico Hulkenberg still have the opportunity to make his way to a top team? If the current circumstances are a good reference, then the 2019 season could be his best shot.
What has gone wrong for the Hulk?
Once a GP2 Champion, Hulkenberg took pole position at the Brazilian GP in his first season in Formula One while driving for Williams and unfortunately, 9 years on since that remarkable performance, that has been the only real highlight from Hulkenberg’s long, yet unfortunate Formula One career.
Along the way, Hulkenberg put in a stellar performance at the 24 Hours Of Le Mans Race midway through his F1 season in 2015 to win the coveted race with Porsche. Hulkenberg had once again made his way to the top step of the podium in a global motorsport event but for reasons cited by many as pure bad luck, Hulkenberg still wasn’t quite there in Formula One.
2019: The Big Opportunity
However, both, his stock and form have risen swiftly ever since he joined Renault back in 2017. Last season, ‘The Hulk’, as he is affectionately known by the fans, finished best of the rest in the drivers championship after fending off fierce competition in the midfield. He guided his team, Renault to a solid fourth place in the constructors’ World Championship and this encouraging form of the French manufacturer has now attracted a Formula One A-Lister to the newly reformed team for 2019.
That makes 2019 arguably the biggest opportunity for Nico Hulkenberg to prove his worth; going neck and neck with a multiple time Grand Prix winner in Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg has absolutely nothing to lose. Should he be outperformed by his teammate, a driver touted as one of the best around in the present day, it will simply be an expected outcome and not many will bat their eyes at Hulkenberg’s side of the garage.
On the other hand, should ‘The Hulk’ stage a massive resurgence and outperform his superstar teammate, the world and more importantly for Hulkenberg, the bigger teams will notice. If the rumours are to be believed, both Bottas and Vettel are nearing the end of their contracts, which does free up two of the most coveted seats in Formula One.
Is this the year of Hulkenberg’s big resurgence?
Although Hulkenberg may not be the obvious choice to fill the grand vacancy in a top team, a stellar showing in 2019 could put him in serious contention. Hiring a driver that has years of Grand Prix experience that has cleanly beaten a hungry Daniel Ricciardo in the same machinery does look like a smart decision. Hulkenberg must deliver if he does not want this to remain a hypothetical situation…
And he has so far; after being presented this potentially-career changing opportunity Hulkenberg has responded brilliantly, recovering from a poor qualifying ruined by technical difficulties to finish seventh while his teammate Ricciardo had a disaster of a race, eventually retiring the car.
In Bahrain, after another poor qualifying affected by technical difficulties, Nico Hulkenberg dominated the midfield and recovered impressively to run in P6 at the latter stages of the race while his star-studded teammate languished in P10 after a disastrous strategy call. However, all the effort was in vain as somewhat surprisingly, both the Renaults stopped on the very same lap at almost the same place due to a mechanical failure of sorts in a truly bizarre incident.
Although this may be absolutely painful for Hulkenberg, who would have loved to stretch his advantage over his teammate, he must make sure that this isn’t a roadblock in his path to glory in 2019; retirements like these can easily dent a driver’s confidence, which in Hulkenberg’s case was pretty high.
What he must do now
If the German can bounce back up and continue what he was doing prior to the catastrophe for Renault, he can be the higher placed Renault in Abu Dhabi and that will surely raise some eyebrows and help commence some contract discussions with Hulkenberg over his services in the future.
Formula One is all about grabbing every single opportunity that comes your way and with 19 more races still left to go, that is exactly what Nico Hulkenberg must do in 2019.
Image Credits: renaultsport.com
You might also like
