Nico Hulkenberg making the move to Sauber in 2025 has put the wheels into motion for the bottom half of the grid to start confirming their driver line-ups for next season.
The 36-year-old German has been brilliant for Haas and has already scored points in more races than in 2023.
However, speaking on the Inside The Piranha Club Podcast, journalist Ben Hunt has questioned Sauber’s decision to confirm Nico Hulkenberg as their first driver for next season.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have had plenty of bad luck this season, especially when it comes to pit stops, that have prevented both drivers from scoring points in 2024.
That may concern Hulkenberg and whoever Sauber decide to partner the German with for next year.
However, the promise of Audi joining the grid in 2026 makes the move much more appealing than it once was.
Hulkenberg will hope that Sauber have ironed out some of those issues when his move is confirmed otherwise he’ll be waiting patiently to see how Audi cope on their Formula 1 debut.
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Journalist left ‘empty’ by Nico Hulkenberg’s move to Sauber in 2025
More than half of the grid were out of contract at the start of the season and were well aware that they were fighting for their futures on the grid.
Nobody expected there to be a defined split between the top five and the bottom five teams that has created an intense battle to score a single point for half the drivers in the paddock.
It quickly gave teams a barometer of how well their drivers were doing when they discovered that unless they were the best of the rest – or could beat Lance Stroll – they weren’t going to score points.
It’s why Yuki Tsunoda’s stock has risen so much this year, securing a brilliant 10 place in his home race in Japan after finishing 7 in Melbourne.
However, Nico Hulkenberg’s results have stood out in both qualifying and the race itself and Sauber made their move to sign him quickly.
However, Hunt has been left disappointed with this decision, wondering why they’ve pulled the trigger so soon.
With so many races left and so many drivers still battling to stay on the grid, it’s not inconceivable that they could be left rueing his decision by the end of the campaign.
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Audi rushed to secure one half of their 2025 driver line-up
Talking about Hulkenberg’s 2025 move to Sauber, Hunt said: “Oh underwhelming, I honestly can’t believe that they’ve picked him.
“Not because of who he is or because he’s German or the fact that he’s 36 or anything, I just can’t believe they’ve picked him at this moment in time.
“It’s not like he was wanted by every other team on the grid. Why pull the trigger so early on that deal?
“You could have lined it up and said, ‘Yeah, sure we’re interested’, but let’s get the good one in first, let’s get Carlos Sainz done, let’s focus on that.
“I don’t understand why they have announced it so soon. I don’t get it, it leaves me rather empty thinking that he’s going there.
“I thought that they would have made a beeline for maybe Oliver Bearman and tried to stop him going to Haas or maybe get him instead.
“Something like that would have seemed like progress. I get why they wanted a Steady Eddy in the car.
“Audi coming in, he’s a good yardstick, a benchmark to go up against, it just leaves me a little bit empty.”
Nico Hulkenberg still has plenty to prove in 2024
Hulkenberg will be keen to prove throughout the rest of the season that Sauber made the right call to move early to bring him in.
Haas would have been delighted for Hulkenberg to have signed on for another season, but it looked like his time with the American team was coming to an end.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will be frustrated that they didn’t get more of an opportunity to convince Andreas Seidl they deserved a contract extension.
However, considering he wanted to get rid of Bottas before the start of this campaign, it’s not a huge surprise that he didn’t get that chance.
The post ‘Honestly can’t believe’: Journalist shares what’s left him ‘empty’ about Nico Hulkenberg’s 2025 Sauber move appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
