“I won’t be the next Michael Schumacher or whatever. When I get to Formula One, and I believe I have still a long way to go, if I do get there, I want to be the first Nico Hulkenberg.”
When you think of German Formula One drivers several names spring to mind, but it’s unlikely that Nico Hulkenberg will be on the tip of anybody’s tongue.
Last Sunday at the European Grand Prix, while the seven time former World Champion Michael Schumacher achieved his best finish since his comeback, it was another German that, perhaps, made the biggest stride in the right direction, Nico Hulkenberg.
The man they call ‘The Hulk’ made his debut in Formula One in the 2010 season, driving for Williams where he partnered the great Rubens Barrichello, a lot of pressure for someone in their debut season. But, racing has always been a constant in the German natives life.
He started to race at the age of just ten, beginning as so many racers do, with karting and quickly showed that he had a talent for driving. His performances were impressive, and led to a step up into German Formula BMW where he became champion in his first season.
His manager Willi Weber gave him the nickname ‘The Hulk’ referring to his change in personality when he gets behind a wheel. It was something that was beginning to become clear, Hulkenberg was no average driver and when he sat in a race car he was there to win.
The young driver had stints in Formula Three as well as the A1 Grand Prix series and had success in both. But, he never stayed for too long and it didn’t take much time for people to start taking notice of his achievements.
His big break came in 2007, aged just 20, he had impressed Team Williams enough for them to offer him a position as a test driver. His talent was evident and Williams eventually offered him a position as an official driver for the 2009-2010 season.
His debut season in F1 was bittersweet. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he set off on a blistering lap in qualifying to secure pole position for his Williams team, however at the end of the year his achievements were not enough, and he was shown the door to make way for the GP2 Champion Pastor Maldonado.
In his second year in Formula One and now with Force India, Hulkenberg is proving what he is capable of and with four top ten finishes already and his latest a fifth place at the European Grand Prix, he can only improve. He currently sits in 14th place in the driver standings but with 12 races still to be decided there is still time to move up the table.
There is a long way to go and plenty of fierce competition from the rest of the grid, but if ‘The Hulk’ continues to get better we could be looking at a future World Champion.
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Art Cross Geoff Crossley Chuck Daigh Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly
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