Nico Hülkenberg has not scored a single World Championship point since his podium finish at Silverstone – team boss Jonathan Wheatley is relaxed about the situation
There was huge celebration when Nico Hülkenberg finally made it onto the podium in the premier class for the first time in his 239th attempt at the Formula 1 race in Silverstone in July. The German set a record at the time, as no driver in the history of Formula 1 had ever had to wait longer for their first podium finish.
However, anyone who had hoped that third place at Silverstone would be a breakthrough for Hülkenberg was disappointed in the weeks that followed. Since his podium finish around two and a half months ago, Hülkenberg has not scored a single World Championship point.
That wouldn’t be a problem if Sauber hadn’t performed well overall during this period. But rookie teammate Gabriel Bortoleto has scored points in three of the five races since Hülkenberg’s podium finish and even came in a strong sixth in Hungary.
In addition, the internal qualifying duel at Sauber currently speaks for itself. Since Spielberg, it’s been 7-0 for Bortoleto, and if you include the sprint qualifying at Spa, it’s even 8-0. Hülkenberg was ahead for the last time in Montreal in June. That was more than three months ago.
Hülkenberg had “a series of problems”
Given these figures, the question inevitably arises as to why Hülkenberg is currently not performing as well. “I think we have to put that into perspective,” emphasizes Sauber team boss Jonathan Wheatley, making it clear: “Nico is a super-fast driver over one lap and at race pace.”
“He is exceptional. He’s in top form every weekend,“ assures the Sauber team boss, explaining: ”He had a series of problems—some of them self-inflicted, others due to the car being a little difficult to drive under certain conditions.”
In fact, Hülkenberg was unable to even start the race at Monza, for example, because his car had a defect on the formation lap. On the other hand, he also made mistakes of his own, such as in qualifying in Baku, where he had an accident in Q1.
Nevertheless, Wheatley makes it clear: “I don’t think there’s a fundamental problem here that we need to worry about at all.” With regard to the close midfield, he explains: “We’re often talking about a thousandth or two hundredths of a second here.”
Wheatley: Bortoleto’s dominance “a temporary thing”
Even small things could therefore make the difference between making it to the next segment in qualifying or not. And Wheatley suggests that Hülkenberg has recently found himself on the wrong side too often.
However, a look at the bare figures tells a slightly different story. Most recently in Baku, Bortoleto beat Hülkenberg by a full four tenths in Q1, and in the previous races in Zandvoort and Monza, the rookie was 0.158 and 0.175 seconds faster in qualifying, respectively.
And before the summer break, Bortoleto was almost four tenths faster than Hülkenberg at Spa and even around half a second faster in Budapest. These figures don’t always tell the whole story, but they do at least contradict Wheatley’s statement that it’s usually only a matter of hundredths or even thousandths of a second.
Nevertheless, the team boss makes it clear with regard to Hülkenberg’s current 0:8 series: “To be honest, I think this is only a temporary thing. Gabriel is also fast. If one of them gets the lap right, he will beat the other in qualifying.”
For Hülkenberg, it’s about time.