Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg secured his maiden F1 podium at the British GP after an “intense” race under ever-changing weather conditions, and described it as a “surreal” feeling following many near-misses in his 15-year tenure at the sport so far.
The German started the race down in 19th place following a low-key qualifying performance, but started to gain places as soon as the formation lap ended, when Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto all pitted for slick tyres before the race even started.
“Perfect” pit stop timings made all the difference
Running in 11th place, the Sauber driver made a well-timed pit stop on lap 9 for a new set of intermediate tyres, which propelled him up the order to a lofty fifth place as the rain started to fall, and drivers ahead lost time with either worn out intermediates or even slick tyres.
Hülkenberg praised Sauber F1’s well-timed pit stops throughout the British GP, saying they were “perfect” on every situation:
“We pitted from inters to inters. I think, obviously, it was drying out, and the inter was wearing down the first set from the start,” Hülkenberg said. “But the team said that there’s some rain about.
“And, you know, it actually changed within one, two laps from a pretty bright sky to dark clouds. And I was just dropping back. I was really struggling with the first set.
“They said the rain is coming, so I just dived into the pits, to be honest, without thinking too much at the time. And then I went out and the rain started.
“And it was real good timing. To be honest, all the stops we made today, I think they could not have been better. We pitted at the perfect time every single time, which is very rare, and kind of difficult to do.”
“Not even thinking” of podium possibility mid-race
From there onwards, he gained a further place when Max Verstappen spun his Red Bull during the final safety car restart, and hounded Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for P3 for several laps before finally getting the job done on lap 35, when DRS was re-enabled.
“And behind Lance [Stroll], no [I didn’t lose time], I mean, he was quick,” he said. “We had very similar pace. But then on that set of intermediates, he eventually he was just degging off a bit more than me when the track dried out. So just took a while to find the way through.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t even really thinking about the podium or anything there. We were running P5, I think four at the time. So it was already pretty, pretty good.
“So I was just about like, you know, ‘let’s keep this going and, make no mistakes’.“
How he gained “crucial” 10 seconds in the final pit stops
When asked at what point did he start to believe a podium was possible, the German admitted he only felt somewhat comfortable on the final few laps, once he had seen off the threat from Hamilton’s Ferrari, as the Briton pitted early onto the final set of slick tyres and slid off the rack very swiftly after, losing as much as 10 seconds in the process:
“I think, you know, before we pitted onto, back onto slicks, I passed Lance [Stroll], then Lewis [Hamilton] passed Lance pretty quickly.
“And then I was able to kind of keep him at bay and even pull away when the Inter started to wear more and more. So that was like, ‘okay, that’s looking, you know, pretty positive and encouraging’.
“And then I think we made a really good call by stopping one lap later than [Hamilton] did to the slick, you know, and we gained, I think it was around 10 seconds of race time or whatever, and that gap was obviously crucial.
“From there onwards, felt a pretty long 10, 11, 12 laps, whatever it was.
“But from [that point], I knew, obviously, we have every chance to get this result. We just need to keep it on, keep it on the road while pushing.”
How he “still remembered” the podium feeling despite so many years away
Hülkenberg didn’t hide his “relief” at getting such a result for the first time in his F1 career. After having so many near-misses throughout his time in the sport, P3 at the British GP also marked Sauber’s first F1 podium since the 2012 Japanese GP.
He last finished on the podium in 2015, when he won the Le Mans 24 hours with Porsche.
The German believes the result will “sink in” more over the next few days, once the adrenaline and the emotions die down a bit – and is pleased that there’s no race for a couple of weeks now, meaning he’ll have time to properly celebrate it with his squad:
“It felt good [being on the podium]. I still remembered, you know, how to do it,” he said. “I used to do it a lot in the junior [categories], but had to wait for it quite a bit. But it just happened all so quick, you know, and the race, you’re still kind of processing that.
“It’s so many emotions, so many people coming at you, a lot of positivity, obviously, a lot of congratulations.
“So at the moment, just happy, relieved. But like I said, you know, it’s going to sink in more over, obviously, the next few hours and the next few days.
“I think I’ll feel the enjoyment even more in the week to come.
“And [coming] from a massive kind of low yesterday, being almost last, and being last literally on the grid, to this result is, yeah, it’s kind of surreal.
“It’s going to take a few days, a few moments to process everything and take it all in. Good news is we have two weeks now to enjoy it, and to celebrate it properly over the next week before we go again.”
