Worth the wait for Hulkenberg

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 9 July 2025

A thrilling British Grand Prix produced many storylines, but the sweetest was the long-awaited sight of Nico Hulkenberg finally on a Formula 1 podium.

After 238 Grands Prix and 15 years, Hulkenberg’s career was appearing to be one of the great injustices of modern-day Formula 1.

The German’s talent when he arrived at the pinnacle of motorsport was clear for all to see, having won four global single-seater titles, including the double of what is now F2 and F3.

This was especially notable when he took pole in a battling Williams in his rookie season.

However, for a variety of reasons, mainly bad luck and being in the wrong place at the wrong time,  Hulkenberg looked destined to be the owner of the unfortunate stat of the most starts without a podium.

Since that magical lap at Interlagos in 2010, Hulkenberg had come within reach of a podium on so many occasions.

He had finished fourth three times, but three other races would have been more painful.

During his first stint at Force India, Hulkenberg led the infamous 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix season finale, but crashed out with Lewis Hamilton in “heart-bleeding” fashion.

During his second period at Force India, Monaco 2016 looked set to be a special stage, only for strategy not to fall his way.

Then, most infamously, he had the chance to stand on the podium on home soil in the crazy final German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 2019, but became one of the countless drivers to slide off at the final turn.

However, all of these near misses on a roller coaster of a career made the events of the 2025 British Grand Prix that much better.

When he lined up on the grid in a lowly 19th representing the struggling Sauber, a podium would have been the furthest thing from Hulkenberg’s mind.

However, in a wild race where composure and smarts were determining factors in tricky conditions, the German excelled.

He and Sauber made the perfect pit calls to run intermediates across the first two stints to soar to third place before switching to slicks, where he not only had the pace to regain track position but also pull away from Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and secure the stunning result.

The entire paddock celebrated with Hulkenberg with even the driver who famously send “suck my balls” to the German, Kevin Magnussen, was cheering inside the Sauber garage.

The scenes in parc ferme were unforgettable as the Sauber team, who had also not seen a podium since 2012, hoisted the German aloft.

Having been so close for so long, Hulkenberg felt a weight off his shoulders when he hoisted the Lego-inspired trophy.

“Everything came together, a big relief on a very happy, very positive day,” Hulkenberg said.

“From a massive low yesterday being almost last, literally on the grid, to this result is kind of surreal. It’s going to take a few days to process everything and take it all in.

“Nice I still remembered how to do it! Used to do it a lot in the junior stuff and then had to wait for it quite a bit!

“But it just happened so quick, the race, and you’re still processing that.

“Then so many emotions, so many people coming at you, a lot of positivity, a lot of congratulations. At the moment just happy and relieved.”

Even when he was scaling up the leaderboard from the bottom to the top five and then top three, Hulkenberg admitted the breakthrough podium was not at the front of his mind until the end.

He felt the Sauber pit wall played an equal part to the driver on a day when the conditions caught many out.

The German’s experience played a big part as he overrode what could have been a disastrous team call to change to slicks on the warmup lap.

“I wasn’t even really thinking about the podium there (during the soaring opening stint) we were running P5/P4 at the time, so it was already pretty good,” he said.

“I was just about keeping it going and making no mistakes.

“All the stops we made today, they could not have been better.

“We pitted at the perfect time every single time, which is very rare and difficult to do.

“But it’s just how it happened today, and we really hit that one on the head.

“From there onwards, felt like a pretty long 10, 11, 12 laps, whatever it was.

“But from there onwards, I knew we have every chance to get this result.

“We just needed to keep it on the road while pushing.

“It was an intense race and we did not crack.”

Hulkenberg now handballs the record for the most starts without a F1 trophy back to Adrian Sutil (128 Grands Prix) and enjoys the much nicer accolade of the oldest first-time podium finisher since George Follmer’s (39) set back in the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix.

Photo by Andy Hone/LAT Images

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