Hulkenberg is still happy with his decision to join the Audi project
Nico Hulkenberg says he would still opt for a future with the Sauber/Audi Formula 1 project despite now knowing that his current employer Haas has forged a new partnership with Toyota.
Hulkenberg signed to drive for the Hinwil team from 2025 back in April, long before Haas and Toyota discussions began to progress.
The arrangement, announced last week, clearly gives Haas resources that it didn’t previously have, such the ability to have an in-house simulator.
However Hulkenberg insists that his decision to join the Swiss team wouldn’t change if he had to make it today, despite Sauber’s failure to score a point this season.
“No, it wouldn’t,” he said. “I mean look end of last year, where we were, and how we started this year, how fast of a turnaround it can be. And things can change so fast in F1, it’s so dynamic.
“I’ve seen it here with Haas and experienced it first hand, how quickly it can improve and be better. And there’s no reason why my next year’s team couldn’t do the same.”
Asked if he was sad to be leaving Haas just as the Toyota deal begins he said: “Sad, but not because of that. I like the team, by the end I’ve spent two years here, and it’s been a very happy two years, very positive. And I’ve really enjoyed myself.
“But obviously, I made a conscious decision early in the year, now quite some time ago already, to pursue a different opportunity. One that is very exciting, very big, big challenge, a big job.
“Am I going to be sad to leave here and then not work with some people? Yes, but that’s life, and that’s motorsport.”
Like rivals Haas has an update package for Austin, which the team hopes will give it a boost as it tries to beat RB to sixth in the World Championship.
“When teams bring updates, it’s always important and crucial for them to get a read on them, to understand them, to get the correlation readings, to see do they perform?,” he said. “Are they doing what they’re supposed to do and intended to do? We have six races to go, as we all know, and the race is on, the fight in the championship.
“But I think we’re in good shape. We’ve had some strong showings and performances recently, the atmosphere and the team is very good. And in general, we’ve had a pretty good year already.
“And to some extent, I feel the other teams that we’re fighting in the midfield, they have probably a bit more to lose than us. We’re coming from ‘p-last,’ and doing pretty well.
“Big recovery so far this year, which doesn’t mean, you know, we’re going to stop. Obviously, we’re going we’ll push on until the very end, and then fight for that P6.”
Hulkenberg expects that he and team mate Kevin Magnussen will start the weekend with different specs in FP1.
“We’re going to split a little bit. I’m not entirely sure yet of the details how we’re going to run it, but I think we want to cross compare for correlation and understanding.”
Regarding the scale of the latest update he said: “Silverstone was the biggest, and I don’t expect it to be the same magnitude.
“That’s at least also what the numbers suggest. But there’s always that element of having to run it on track and see what it actually does.”
Adam Cooper F1 