Nico Hulkenberg says the perception of Sauber will change when it becomes Audi next season, and hopes to use his experience to accelerate the team’s development.
Sauber has been a midfield team for most of its Formula 1 history and, apart from a sixth-place finish in 2022, has not finished higher than eighth in the Constructors’ Championship since 2013. It will become the factory Audi team next year following a takeover by the German car brand, and Hülkenberg says this will lead to much more attention, even if the team cannot expect to make a step change.
“The perception will certainly change,” Hulkenberg told RACER. “I think, as a manufacturer and as Audi of course, there will be many more eyes on us, many more expectations, but we have to be realistic.
“I don’t expect us to win races from the start, we are at the beginning of a long journey. It’s a process and the top teams, I think, still have a big advantage in terms of infrastructure and in terms of factories and all that kind of stuff. But we’ll keep pushing.”
“I hope we are catching up, but as a manufacturer the expectations will be a little different next year.”
At 38 years old, Hulkenberg is one of the more experienced drivers in the sport. He has raced for Williams, Force India, Renault, Aston Martin, Haas and Sauber. So he relies on his own knowledge to help Audi move forward.
‘I hope so [experience] do [help]’ he said. ‘As a driver you obviously have to race hard, drive fast, deliver results and performance, but you can also contribute in other ways. Of course the technical side: if regulations change, there are many new things to learn to keep your mind on track. I hope that I can contribute to faster learning next year.
“I think it has to do with a combination of things. Obviously experience helps, different regulations, different cars – you just have a greater wealth of knowledge, how things worked in different eras.”
“But then it’s a mix of what you feel, and then obviously what the data measures, what the engineers see. It’s just a constant work in progress, you drive, you change things, you test things, you get results, you get answers and you just keep going and building the picture and building the knowledge.”
However 2026 will develop, Hulkenberg admits he is really proud to be representing a major German manufacturer team in F1 at this stage of his career.
“It’s cool,” he said. “It’s definitely an opportunity that I don’t think comes around that often in a driver’s career. For other drivers that was obviously the case in the past, but for me, coming back to Haas in 2023 and then how things developed from there, it’s a pretty crazy story to get that factory ride with Audi – to be part of it and still be driving around after 15 years in the industry. So I’m just very proud and happy about that.”
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