This Weekend, We Were All Nico Hulkenberg Fans

The British Grand Prix brought out the very best in Nico Hulkenberg. At long last!

238 starts. Zero podiums. After nearly two decades of professional racing, which have included a championship in Formula 3, a championship in Formula 2, a championship in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a historic run in the A1 Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg has finally made his way onto a Formula 1 podium. 

The Elusive Podium

“The Hulk” was once dubbed a future champion of F1 after his stellar rise through the ranks. He was compared to a young Michael Schumacher (no pressure, kid). But through a mixture of bad luck and underwhelming performances, he has never had all the elements working in his favor. Not just for a season, but for any single race. Somehow, someway, despite finishing top ten in 144 out of his 238 races before this past Sunday, Hulkenberg has never crossed the line in 3rd place or better. The podium eluded him. The second most consecutive races without scoring a podium is Adrian Sutil, at 128. The second most races without a podium to start a career is Carlos Sainz, at 101. No one is close to Nico Hulkenberg. The German driver became synonymous with good, not great. 

At the British Grand Prix on July 6th, 2025, Nico Hulkenberg was great.

Comeback Kid

Starting second-to-last in 19th place is not ideal for finishing in the top three. But despite bad qualifying performances, Hulkenberg has been on a bit of a hot streak on race day. He started in dead last in the Austrian Grand Prix the week prior, and finished in 9th. The race before that, the Canadian Grand Prix, saw him climb out of 13th to finish 8th. The Spanish Grand Prix? Try 16th to 5th. That’s three races in a row in which the Kick Sauber driver turns it on when it matters most, overcoming a slow Saturday drive to score points on Sunday. Going from 19th to the top three, though, in a car that isn’t exactly a rocket, might've been an order too tall even for a red-hot driver in Hulkenberg.

Insert rain.

Anything is Possible

Rain is often the great equalizer in Formula 1. Some drivers relish in it (Pierre Gasly). Chaos is likely to ensue, as some cars will lose their grip, teams will invariably mess up their tire and pit strategy, and drivers will struggle with poor visibility. Chaos, as Game Theory shows us, neutralizes a superior opponent’s advantage, and this played out right from the jump in the British Grand Prix. 

Four cars pitted after the formation lap in order to switch to slick tires, their thinking being that the rain would hold off for a while and the track would be dry enough for them to make a run to the front on their faster tires. Hulkenberg took full advantage on his intermediate tires, pushing harder than others were able to with his added traction. 

Making His Own Calls

In lap four, his team tried to make a move to the slicks, predicting there would be a dry window, but Hulkenberg stayed out instead of pitting, citing his concerns about the track’s conditions. In lap 10, with his team urging him to stay out, he made the call to pit, sending his crew scrambling to meet him in the pit lane. His tires were fading, and a fresh set of intermediates were needed before the impending storm. The man was going with his gut, and it was working. 

He was in the top five now, making a handful of lovely passes and taking advantage of the faulty strategies and car issues other teams were experiencing. Two places left to gain, however. 

Penalties and Spin Outs

Hulkenberg received a blessing during a safety car incident involving Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. On lap 21, with Piastri leading the race and Verstappen in second, Piastri broke hard while following the safety car, which came out so the marshals could clear debris amidst the rain. Verstappen went by him, nearly colliding with the McLaren in the process. Perhaps in part because of Piastri driving so slowly, thus inhibiting his ability to keep his tires warm, Verstappen spun out as the race resumed, dropping all the way down to 10th. Piastri would receive a 10-second penalty for his braking, which dropped him down to 2nd. Hulkenberg now sat in 4th. 

Ahead of Hulkenberg was Lance Stroll, who had benefited from the same type of good fortune as Nico and done a fine job himself in climbing up the ladder. After stalking him for 14 laps, he finally overtook the Aston Martin, moving into 3rd on lap 35. 

The podium was in play. But the race was far from over.

Holding off the King

Stroll was overtaken soon after by…Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time World Champion was now the one doing the stalking, and on a track he has won a record nine races. In front of his home crowd. In a much faster car. Hamilton, knowing all this, even called his shot on his team radio, saying there will be a change of places in a few laps. 

For six laps Hulkenberg held off the charging Hamilton, who was often within a second of him. The Ferrari driver had had enough by lap 42: time to call in the big guns. With no more rain expected, Hamilton pitted and switched to slick tires, thus increasing his speed advantage even more over Hulkenberg’s Sauber. 

Nico needed as much of a boost as he could get, and he got it on the following lap, switching to slick tires himself. Hamilton went off the track on his set of slicks, which increased the gap between them even more than pitting for new tires already did. This gave Hulkenberg a chance to switch tires comfortably on lap 43, but he needed a fast exchange. He did not get it, as his crew took 4.7 seconds to swap out his tires. He then struggled mightily adjusting to the still-damp track, going slow around the first few corners. Nine laps to go now, with Hamilton on the prowl and shaving time with every straightaway.

It was simply Nico’s day, though. Lewis Hamilton cut the lead down by a few seconds across the final stretch of the race, but Nico Hulkenberg held him off and zipped past the line in 3rd. His 239th start would be his last without being able to stand on the podium, in what was a spectacular drive full of intense battles and savvy decisions by the 37-year-old veteran. 

The Driver of the Day

There were plenty of storylines during this wild race. Verstappen and Piastri’s run-in. Lando Norris winning in Silverstone for the first time. All five rookies DNF’ing. But the man who ruled the day was Nico Hulkenberg. At long last, one of the most dubious streaks in F1 history, and dare I say sports history, has come to an end. 

Hulkenberg has always done things the right way, and in a sport often ruled by overly-intense, type-A cyborgs, his unassuming nature is a breath of fresh air. He is easy to root for, and was never cheered on louder during his Formula 1 career than during the 2025 British Grand Prix. He was in the midst of a three-year F1 hiatus as recently as 2022, after being replaced by Esteban Ocon on the Renault team in ‘19. Now he’s on a podium. Finally. 

Every Formula 1 fan loved the Hulk on Sunday. Is his first win right around the corner?

Subscribe now for updates on the latest and greatest banter from the Peanut Gallery!