Nico Hulkenberg expressed “pride” to Motorsport Week upon joining the Audi Formula 1 venture for 2025 and beyond.
Audi confirmed its intention at the end of 2022 to take over the Sauber squad to make an F1 debut in 2026.
Hulkenberg, meanwhile, made his return to the F1 fold full-time in 2023 with Haas, having last completed a full season with Renault in 2019.
The German acquitted himself well upon his F1 return and it was to little surprise that he was the first signing made by Audi, with Hulkenberg putting pen to paper on a multi-year deal with Sauber last Spring.
Hulkenberg will lead Audi, one of the biggest automotive names not just in Germany, but the world in 2026 after a year of bedding back into the Sauber camp this coming campaign.
Speaking exclusively with Motorsport Week last November, Hulkenberg admitted there is a sense of pride in representing Audi in F1 as a German driver.
“Well, I’m one of the two first drivers that will [drive for Audi], but of course being German, there is an element of pride, and I’m very happy about it,” he said.
“It’s pretty cool, it’s pretty big. Obviously, at the moment there’s a lot of work ahead of us, but 2026 is going to be such a, probably maybe reset for everyone with the regulation changes.
“It’s a white piece of paper for everyone and that offers really good opportunities for everyone involved.”
Hulkenberg hails journey to Audi signing
Hulkenberg’s journey to Audi is nothing short of remarkable.
His exit at the end of 2019 could have been all she wrote regarding the German’s F1 career.
A few cameos in 2020 and 2022 with Racing Point and its updated guise Aston Martin gave teams a glimpse that Hulkenberg wasn’t quite ready to call it quits.
In the end, it was Haas who gave Hulkenberg the opportunity and he repaid that faith in full.
He beat team-mate Kevin Magnussen in head-to-head race and qualifying statistics in 2023 and ’24, appearing in the Q3 top-10 shootout 19 times.
Those skills convinced Audi that not only did it have a German driver to fly its flag, but one with the requisite skill to drive the team forward.
Asked if Hulkenberg could have envisaged such a development in his career a few years ago, he said: “Probably not. Yeah, it’s been a bit of a ride, a fun one, a positive one, but I don’t think I would have expected or thought that that was going to happen.
“It’s obviously life where it took me,” he added.
“I think the comeback worked, it paid off and just how it all happened, the break, the three years out, kind of really good and refreshing for me personally, and coming back and feeling very happy in where I am, what I do, with the team and everything.
“I think that relates to on-track performance, and obviously that’s the ultimate thing here.”
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