Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has been reviewing the driver’s market ahead of the 2025 season with plenty of change expected once all the seats are filled.
Jenson Button is well-versed in the comings and goings in F1, having raced for McLaren and Williams among plenty of other teams and getting on the wrong side of Flavio Briatore in the early stages of his career.
Button was being interviewed on Sky Sports F1 ahead of the Miami Grand Prix and asked his thoughts on one move in particular.
Lewis Hamilton’s imminent arrival at Ferrari has unsurprisingly stolen the headlines but several other drivers have secured contracts for 2025 and beyond too.
The likes of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris signed contracts in pre-season and Fernando Alonso is now set to stay at Aston Martin for the foreseeable future.
However, Button has been raving about the move Nico Hulkenberg is set to make at the end of the 2024 season.
After earning a reprieve when his F1 career looked to be hanging on by a thread before Guenther Steiner gave him his chance at Haas, he’s now earned a seat at a works team.
The 36-year-old will spend a year driving for Sauber in 2025 before they become Audi and one of motorsport’s biggest names finally joins the Formula 1 grid.
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Jenson Button hails Nico Hulkenberg move to Sauber in 2025
It’s hard to ignore Nico Hulkenberg’s brilliant form at the start of the 2024 season.
Andreas Seidl wanted the German for this campaign in place of Valtteri Bottas, but Haas triggered an extension in his contract to keep him for a further year.
New team principal Ayao Komatsu will be delighted that the team made that decision considering his position in the Drivers’ Championship.
Hulkenberg has scored points in three of the first five races and narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish in Japan.
Only Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him in the standings from the bottom five teams after his magnificent performance in Australia.
Button has been very complimentary about Hulkenberg this season and believes his move to Audi is fully justified.
Now, the attention is on who will partner the 36-year-old from next year onwards…
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Nico Hulkenberg’s next teammate at Audi is still unknown
Asked what he made of Hulkenberg’s move, Button said: “I think it’s a great move for him and a great move for the team moving forward.
“It’s a team that – when they change names – needs an experienced driver in the team.
“Yeah, he hasn’t been on a podium, he hasn’t really found himself in a situation where he could fight for podiums.
“He’s proven this year that he is quick. To be out-qualifying Kevin [Magnussen] like he is, that’s impressive.
“I know how quick Kevin is, we were teammates back in 2014, so yeah he’s on it and this is a new lease of life for him and I’m really looking forward to seeing Nico in the team and in the future really moving that team forward.
“It’ll be interesting to see who his teammate is, will they go for someone that’s experienced as well like Carlos [Sainz] or will they go for someone who’s a bit of an exciting young talent.”
Audi are trying to move for Carlos Sainz as Button has suggested to partner Hulkenberg next season.
Fireworks have been predicted if that’s the partnership that team boss Andreas Seidl decides on.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu look unlikely to be retained while Esteban Ocon is another option being considered.
However, all that’s known right now if Nico Hulkenberg will still be on the grid next season and looking to finally end his record run of races without a podium finish in Formula 1’s newest works team.
The post ‘That’s impressive’: Jenson Button hails ‘great’ 2025 F1 move, he’s proven how ‘quick’ he is this year appeared first on F1 Oversteer.