Nico Hülkenberg delivered a strong recovery drive at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP, securing eighth place after a challenging weekend for Audi. Overcoming early drama, midfield traffic and tricky track conditions, the German driver explained how smart strategy and race pace turned a difficult weekend around.
Hülkenberg on dodging Gabriel Bortoleto
Nico Hülkenberg experienced a dramatic opening to the 2026 F1 Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Heading directly into a thick cloud of tyre smoke caused by his spinning teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, the German driver did a superb job to dodge him and avoid an accident.
In the print media zone after the race, he described the track conditions as very dry overall, though the banked final corner remained much wetter and exposed other drivers to difficulties, with Max Verstappen hitting the wall.
He admitted that he felt unsure which way the spinning car of the Brazilian would roll, forcing him into a period of hesitation until the last moment. Hülkenberg noted that a good portion of luck prevented them from hitting each other.
Despite the early scare, he felt the second start was still good and provided a positive opening lap at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP. He was 9th once Arvid Lindblad took his drive-through penalty.
”Yeah, I mean a bit wild. The whole track was very dry, just that corner stayed much wetter. And obviously, yeah, sketchy, it caught people out. It was very tricky. I wasn’t sure where he was gonna go, if he was gonna roll up or roll down. So you know I was waiting, hesitating, hesitating until the last moment.
“I think it was a good portion of luck not to hit each other there. That was too close for comfort. I think second start was still good, good first lap.”
Battling through traffic in the midfield
After the second start, Hülkenberg found space on track and praised the overall pace of the car. He was over 0.8s and 0.3s slower than his teammate in Sprint Qualifying and the Grand Prix version, highlighting his remarkable turnaround.
Although he encountered traffic in the middle of the race, he managed to work his way through. He pointed out that once a driver establishes track position in the midfield, maintaining clean air becomes key.
“Made some places and I think overall strong pace. Obviously some traffic in the middle of the race, but we somehow managed to get through that. I think in the midfield, once you’re ahead, that’s pretty key for anyone.
“We were able then to exploit the car, the pace. Really good teamwork overall, good job on the strategy. Friday, Saturday, not the easiest weekend for me, so it feels really sweet and nice to come away with this result.”
Reflecting on a specific battle with Pierre Gasly, Hülkenberg explained that Zandvoort is well known for being difficult to overtake at. The Frenchman was bottled up behind Carlos Sainz and Arvid Lindblad. As he tried to pass the Racing Bulls into turn 11, he went deep, and the German pounced. Immediately into turn 1 on the next tour, he cleared the Brit.
He then got ahead of Fernando Alonso through the stops and took a comfortable P8 in the end.
”Yeah, obviously he was stuck behind, I think, Arvid [Lindblad] on old tyres and Zandvoort, you know classic, very hard to overtake, so it was getting a bit wild and messy at one point and I managed to take advantage of that. So that was nice and key to the result.”
Overcoming a difficult weekend at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
Addressing the handling of the car, Nico Hülkenberg noted that it felt quite snappy out on track. He assigned this to the extremely windy and gusty conditions that continued throughout the entire weekend at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP. While the balance felt tricky to manage, he acknowledged that the weather affected everyone equally.
When asked about the contrast between his strong race pace and his struggles earlier in the weekend, as he did not finish the Sprint Race and struggled with the Qualifying sessions, Hülkenberg explained that a Grand Prix scenario is different to a Qualifying session.
He felt that pushing right on the limit made the car’s balance fragile and difficult to handle, though the underlying race pace remained strong.
”It was snappy, I think very windy, very gusty out there like all weekend. It was okay, but same for everyone.
”It’s a quite different race scenario to a qualifying scenario. On the limit I just feel it was a bit fragile on my side and like car-wise, you know, the balance was difficult to handle. I’m not the biggest kind of envelope, but car pace was strong.
“Obviously Gabi showed what the car can do yesterday. We know race pace has been good this year, but you need to have track position.”
