For the first time since his memorable maiden podium at the F1 British GP, Nico Hülkenberg scored points on a a Sunday with a P8 in the US round at COTA, and it was met with much delight by Sauber Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley.
The German driver has been thoroughly outperformed by Gabriel Bortoleto since that day at Silverstone. Singapore was the first time since Canada that Hülkenberg had beaten his teammate in a qualifying session. It was also 0-14 in points since the British Grand Prix.
Jonathan Wheatley on Nico Hülkenberg and his outstanding weekend at the F1 US GP
In FP1, Nico Hülkenberg was a very strong P2. He followed that up in Sprint qualifying with a superb 4th on the grid, beating both Mercedes and Ferrari cars, as well as Yuki Tsunoda, on merit. Sadly for him, a turn 1 tangle with Oscar Piastri ended his hopes of points in the Sprint.
However, he bounced back in the Grand Prix. After qualifying 11th, he took advantage of the Sainz-Antonelli collision and Bearman’s spin battling Tsunoda to take 8th.
Speaking in a print media session after the F1 US GP, Jonathan Wheatley talked about the superb event Nico Hülkenberg had.
“Firstly, for Nico, what an incredible race weekend altogether.
“I think all the people that had criticism about him, his qualifying performance, various other criticisms over the last few months, I think they’ve probably got reason to have another look at that because he just was flawless from the very first lap in P1.
“You can’t help but wonder what the sprint would have brought if there wasn’t that incident in Turn 1. I’m fairly sure we’d have had some serious points out of that as well.
“And then today, look at him, he just drove a flawless race again.
“So yeah, I couldn’t be more happy for him and for the team.”
Why Sauber fell back in F1 US GP qualifying compared to the Sprint one
By Grand Prix qualifying, Nico Hülkenberg slipped to P11 on the grid. While a wild direction change in the penultimate corner hurt the C45, big gains by Ferrari in particular meant they would always drop back to a more regular position.
“Between Friday and Saturday, everyone else learned a bit.
“Genuinely, I think Nico just arrived here and he had that look in his eye. He did an outstanding performance in Sprint qualifying.
“And again, if I could have, should have, whatever, if there hadn’t been that wind change into Turn 19 on his qualifying lap, then maybe P8 was achieved for him. And for Sauber, P8 is punching well above our weight.”
A very strong race for Sauber at the F1 US GP
Asked if the car suited COTA and the fact Hülkenberg was the fastest midfield runner on Sunday, Wheatley explained Sauber’s biggest concern heading into the F1 US GP was the wind.
With lead midfield driver on Sunday Carlos Sainz dropping out after his incident with Kimi Antonelli, Nico Hülkenberg showed outstanding pace in clean air in the second stint. Once he overtook Bearman, he gapped him by 7.5s at the chequered flag for 8th. He only finished 3.5s behind Yuki Tsunoda, too.
“Actually we were worried about the wind going into the race, because our car, I don’t think it’s just our car, but these cars are heavily wind affected. I think the wind was quite stable most of the time through the race.
“And I think, again, Nico just has been, I don’t know, superlative all weekend.”
