Nico Hulkenberg has explained that Daniel Ricciardo’s arrival at Renault in 2019 led to a deterioration in his relationship with the Formula 1 team and his eventual exit.
Renault signed Hulkenberg to spearhead its revived F1 involvement and he was its highest-scoring driver as it ascended to fourth in his second season with the team.
But having dispatched both Jolyon Palmer and Carlos Sainz, Hulkenberg was met with a sterner test with multiple-time F1 race winner Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull.
Hulkenberg was unable to match his more established then team-mate and his contract wasn’t extended as the Enstone-based squad opted to acquire Esteban Ocon.
The German has revealed how the atmosphere changed in his last season as Renault bucked under the expectation that came with having a big-name driver onboard.
“In itself, it wasn’t difficult to be his team-mate,” the German told GP Racing about his sole season alongside Ricciardo.
“But I think during that period things happened within the team that, particularly with the management, were not very positive for me.
“When you recruit a great driver, you have to convince the management and pay a high price.
“But then the performance of the car is not up to what it should be, or what was promised to the management, and the pressure increases.
“In addition, there were some strategic decisions that ended up going wrong for me.”
One “strategic decision” that Hulkenberg alluded to came in the Canadian Grand Prix when he was told to hold position in seventh behind Ricciardo in the closing laps.
Hulkenberg has highlighted that Montreal race as a “turning point” which marked a sudden downturn in his relationship with the Anglo-French marque’s senior bosses.
“I couldn’t understand it,” he recalled. “That was one of the turning points.
“OK, it had been a difficult season up to that point, but the decision to freeze positions?
“I could easily have overtaken him. I had much fresher tyres and I could have overtaken him without the slightest risk. For me, it was an absurd explanation.
“In retrospect, I shouldn’t have obeyed. Of course they wouldn’t have liked it, it would have caused friction. So what?
“It happens all the time that there’s friction in the team, and then the season goes on and you move on to the next race. Things are forgotten very quickly!
“After that, I think it was during the second half of the season that I didn’t feel any more support and I realised that we were no longer a team with the management.
“What we had built up over the previous two years kind of dissolved. It wasn’t very good and obviously that also had an impact on my performance.”
Hulkenberg spent the next three complete seasons without a full-time drive, but he impressed in sporadic appearances he conducted with Racing Point/Aston Martin.
The one-time F1 polesitter returned to the grid with Haas last term and has penned a multi-term deal with Sauber as it prepares to transition into a works Audi entrant.
Hulkenberg has taken pride in his comeback as he took a slight dig at ex-Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul, who departed at the end of 2020 and has vacated the F1 scene.
“It’s funny that, five years later, he’s no longer here,” Hulkenberg exclaimed regarding Abiteboul. “I left too, but I came back and I’m still here. That means something.
“There’s also a detail that perhaps isn’t widely known: it was actually Fred [Vasseur] who got me signed.
“It was he who brought me here. But he also had problems and left very quickly. That was another change.”
