Nico Hülkenberg

Nico Hülkenberg arrived in Formula 1 in 2010 with one of the most decorated junior records of his generation — champion of the GP2 Series at the first attempt in 2009 — and almost immediately produced one of the great qualifying performances of the era. At the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, in a Williams that had no business being near the front, he took a stunning pole position in changeable conditions, beating the entire field by over a second. It was the first signal of a recurring theme: raw single-lap speed that flattered the machinery he was given.

What followed was a career defined by a strange and cruel statistic. Across spells at Williams, Force India, Sauber and Renault, Hülkenberg established himself as one of the most reliable and respected drivers on the grid — quick, racecraft-savvy, and metronomically consistent in the midfield — yet the podium kept eluding him. He accumulated the unwanted record for the most Grand Prix starts without a top-three finish, a run so long it became the defining narrative around him, overshadowing a 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours victory on his debut and a reputation as the best stand-in driver in the sport.

The breakthrough finally came at the 2025 British Grand Prix. Starting nineteenth in a Sauber, Hülkenberg drove a faultless wet-weather race, picking off cars through the chaos at Silverstone to finish third — his first Formula 1 podium after a record-breaking wait that the entire paddock had come to see as one of the sport's great injustices. The release of fifteen years of near-misses made it one of the most popular results in recent memory, and set up his move to the works Audi team for the new era.