‘We’ll miss him next year’ – Eddie Jordan comments in on Audi-bound driver’s future
Returning to Formula 1 last season when he was recalled to the grid by Haas, Hulkenberg emerged as a Saturday star with his one-lap pace but was let down by Haas and their tyre-eating VF-23 in the Grands Prix.
Eddie Jordan will ‘miss’ Nico Hulkenberg next season
However, this season the German has bagged 22 of the team’s 27 points to put Haas comfortably into seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.
But while it could be argued that some of Hulkenberg’s early-season points have come by fair or foul means with the help of his team-mate Kevin Magnussen, his back-to-back sixth-placed finished in Austria and Silverstone were all Hulkenberg and Haas’ doing.
Qualifying ninth at the Red Bull Ring, he raced his way to sixth, albeit handed a position by Lando Norris’ retirement, while in Silverstone he was sixth on the grid and, partially thanks to George Russell’s retirement, finished P6.
Hulkenberg’s charge comes in the wake of confirmation that he is to Audi/Sauber next season having signed a multi-year deal with the Hinwil team.
Since that announcement was made in the wake of the Chinese Grand Prix on 26 April, Haas have gone from five points to 27 while Sauber/Audi have dropped from best of the non-points scorers to 10th.
Midway through the championship, they are the only team without a single point on the board with Valtteri Bottas’ P11 at the season-opening Bahrain GP their best result of the campaign.
It has Jordan deliver a “we’ll miss him” verdict as Hulkenberg prepares to change teams.
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“Nico Hulkenberg, we mustn’t forget about that,” the former F1 team boss said during the Formula For Success podcast, “to bring the Haas into that position in the finishing order.
“When you think about what this guy has done – he’s been with Force India and then he went off and he won Le Mans, he missed a couple of seasons in Formula 1, and now he’s back as the main guy in the Audi programme.
“So we wish him every success. In fact, we’ll miss him next year because I think he brings a great presence to the situation.”
As for Hulkenberg, he was happy that his second sixth place in as many races elevated Haas to seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.
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Just four points behind VCARB in the battle to lead the back half the grid, Hulkenberg told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “Nobody expected that when we started. It was better than an expectation.
“We kept up with everyone, maybe same job maybe even better. I think it’s also a little bit weekend-dependent and track dependent. So you know, we’ll have to wait and see but it’s definitely a hell of a comeback in the story.”
