In April, Nico Hulkenberg announced his departure from Sauber, which will be enforced in 2025. The Swiss team being bought by Audi indeed has its appeal, but the veteran F1 driver revealed it was not a ‘no-brainer’ decision.
“It wasn’t a no-brainer because I really enjoy my time at Haas. I enjoy working with the engineers, with the mechanics, with Ayao [Komatsu], with Guenther [Steiner] last year,” said Hulkenberg to Autosport.
Hulkenberg was forced to have a hiatus from F1 from 2020 to 2022. At that time it seemed his F1 career was over until Haas unexpectedly came to him with an opportunity that has revived his career.
BREAKING: Nico Hulkenberg will race with Kick Sauber in 2025!
#F1 pic.twitter.com/P7vkj0rRma— Formula 1 (@F1) April 26, 2024
For that, Hulkenberg still feels, “grateful. They made the comeback possible and indirectly gave me this opportunity to go for this next contract now because without them it wouldn’t be on the table, so I appreciate that.”
Hulkenberg further says that he still feels that Haas has significant room for improvement. And since he also felt well treated, he reiterates, “That’s why it wasn’t the no-brainer you maybe think.”
However, Hulkenberg has now made his commitment to Audi. But amidst this, he claims to be transparent towards Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu.
Hulkenberg vows to remain committed
While the union between Hulkenberg and Haas has an expiry date, the German race driver reveals that he has committed his entire dedication towards Haas this season.
“‘Don’t even think that this will change something for me in this current season. I’m a hundred per cent committed till the last corner for Haas,'” Hulkenberg claims this is what he said to Komatsu while announcing his departure to the Japanese engineer.
On the other hand, Haas managed to find a replacement for Hulkenberg and has announced the hiring of Ferrari academy driver Oliver Bearman for the next season. It will be the Briton’s rookie year in F1 as he currently drives in F2. However, Bearman did get his one-off F1 race appearance during this year’s Saudi Arabian GP.
Meanwhile, Hulkenberg’s teammate Kevin Magnussen wasn’t lucky enough to get a favorable response from Haas. A few hours before the publishing of this article, Haas announced their separation from him after the end of the season.
This means that Haas will once again have an entirely new line-up for 2025. Current Alpine driver Esteban Ocon is likely to replace Magnussen after the team decided to part ways with the Frenchman at the end of 2024.
