Nico Hülkenberg, reliability that comes in handy
One of the most in-form drivers of the 2025 season is undoubtedly Nico Hülkenberg, who is giving Kick Sauber the reliability a fragile team needed ahead of its imminent on-track transition to Audi. The 1987-born driver has scored points in three out of ten race weekends, and at Montmeló he even brought the Hinwil team into the top five — something that hadn’t happened since the 2022 Imola GP.
That very 2022 was Nico Hülkenberg’s last “home” season, having been sidelined by Renault at the end of 2019 and considered done as a full-time F1 driver. But the story has proven the critics spectacularly wrong: the German, who kept himself ready and didn’t give up, returned to the grid with Haas in 2023 and helped the American team with consistent performances and valuable feedback, so much so that Kick Sauber chose to rely on his experience for its resurgence.
Ralf Schumacher’s words
Nico Hülkenberg’s performance is clear even from the numbers. In ten races, the #27 has scored 20 points — the same total accumulated by the various second drivers Red Bull has fielded since Monza 2024. And for Ralf Schumacher, Nico Hülkenberg would be the ideal teammate for Max Verstappen: “Yes, he’d be a good fit beside him. They get along, and Nico has started well at Hinwil — you can see it from the results, let’s keep our fingers crossed,” the former driver told Germany’s Sky Sport. “I don’t want to offend anyone, but I can imagine that Nico’s feedback is the best Sauber has had in recent years. He’s learned from experience — he’s always been in teams where there was a lot of work to do: he wasn’t in Mercedes, for example, where the car was perfect, and the driver just had to drive.”
At Hinwil, they are naturally very pleased with Hülkenberg’s results: his 20 points match what the team had scored over the past two seasons combined. Now, they are waiting for more signs from Gabriel Bortoleto, who is still yet to score in the standings.
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