‘One of the best days of my career:’ 15 years into his F1 career, Nico Hulkenberg earns maiden podium

Photo Credit: PlanetF1.com

“Nico! Nico! Nico!” echoed around the Formula 1 Winners’ Circle after the 2025 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. After 15 years in F1, 37-year-old Nico Hulkenberg finished on the podium for the first time in his career.

“It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? But I always knew we have it in us, I have it in me, somewhere, said Nico Hulkenberg after the race.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster this weekend, being virtually last here yesterday, and a pretty bad day to one of the best days of my career.”

Coming into the race, Hulkenberg had the record for most race starts (239) without a podium finish. Following Saturday’s qualifying, that record didn’t look like it was being broken anytime soon as the German would start the race 19th after being eliminated in the first qualifying session.

Despite starting from “virtually last” as Hulkenberg noted after the race, he and his team, Kick Sauber, had one thing going for them - the forecast.

No matter where a driver starts on the grid, if there is rain in the forecast, anything can happen.

Given Hulkenberg’s position on the track, Sauber could take risks with their strategy, which ultimately paid off. Before the race even started, Hulkenberg gained six positions when a slew of cars came into the pits following the formation lap to change from intermediate tires to slick tires. While the rain had stopped, the track was still wet at the start of the Grand Prix, leaving a difficult decision to the drivers whether to pit for slicks and start from the pit lane or take a chance on the inters. Only one driver, Mercedes’ George Russell, who pitted following the formation lap, finished in the points (10th place).

By Lap 8, Hulkenberg was already in a points position thanks to those aforementioned pit stops and three drivers, including his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, retiring from the race. It was a lap later when Hulkenberg decided to pit for a new set of inters, with a treacherous patch of rain looming. While pitting early, the 37-year-old lost a few places, but he quickly made his way up the grid while all the drivers around him entered the pit lane to change tires. By the time all the pit stops were made and the race was slowed via a safety car due to the heavy rain, Hulkenberg found himself in fifth place.

“That race was intense with all the change of conditions,” Hulkenberg said. “It was sketchy, a high-speed track with changeable conditions is never easy.”

The German driver gained another position on Lap 21, moving up to fourth after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was in second, spun his car during the safety car restart.

For the next 14 laps, Hulkenberg swiftly maneuvered his car around the slippery circuit, fending off the likes of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. On Lap 35, Hulkenberg made the move that would give him his maiden podium in F1. Having quickly gained on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on the previous laps, Hulkenberg made his move at Stowe corner to pass the Canadian and put himself into a podium place.

A top-three finish was not a guarantee for Hulkenberg, given the conditions and with seven-time World Driver’s Champion Hamilton chasing him down in a faster Ferrari. Hunting a 13th consecutive podium finish at his home Grand Prix, Hamilton’s tires started to wear, forcing last year’s British Grand Prix winner to pit on Lap 41. This gave Hulkenberg more breathing space to pit on the following lap and still come out well ahead of Hamilton.

“I was in denial until probably the last pit stop, Hulkenberg said, but when I heard we gapped Lewis (Hamilton) quite a bit with the one extra lap, I was like ‘ok, this is good, this is some breathing space.’

“But then he was catching quite quickly, so the pressure was there. It was an intense race but we didn’t crack, no mistakes, and obviously really, really happy with that.”

With the rain long gone and the track drying up, both drivers switched to slicks. Once again, Hamilton was chasing down Hulkenberg for third place, but was never able to make a significant dent into Hulkenberg’s advantage.

As Hulkenberg crossed the finish line with the checkered flag waving, he had finally finished on the podium for the first time in his F1 career after 239 races, 5,593 days, and 15 years.

“Nico drove an outstanding race today, one of the best I've seen at Silverstone and one of the best I've seen of any driver ever," said Sauber Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley. "It seems incredible to me that we're all celebrating a podium, as it feels to me like he should have been getting them all his career.

“From starting in 19th to P3 this was the lowest ever starting position for a podium finisher in Sauber’s 32-year history, and after 239 Grand Prix starts, Nico delivered the goods. No driver is more deserving of a podium than Nico.”

Wheatley characterized Hulkenberg’s race result as “the most overdue podium in F1 history.”

This was Hulkenberg’s best ever race result and Sauber’s first podium finish since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. A career midfield driver who has also raced for Williams, Force India, Renault, Racing Point, Aston Martin, and Haas, Hulkenberg hasn’t had many opportunities to be on an F1 podium. Having finished in fourth place three times before, Hulkenberg’s closest finish to a podium position was when he finished fifth in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Having led for most of the race, a costly slip on Lap 49 allowed Hamilton to overtake him for first. When Hulkenberg tried to retake the lead, he crashed into Hamilton, ending the British driver’s race and receiving a penalty that demoted him to fifth.

Despite the close calls to podium finishes over his 15-year F1 career, this one was well worth the wait for one of the most respected and well-liked drivers on the grid.

“Congratulations to Nico! Seeing him fight for the podium and achieve this result after so many years in Formula 1 means a lot,” said his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. “He is the best teammate I have ever worked with – both as a driver and as a person – and he absolutely deserves this moment: I am genuinely happy for him.”

“Honestly, for me, the fact that people kept cursing him, the fact that he didn’t have any podiums, for me it was completely irrelevant,” said Williams’ Carlos Sainz, a former teammate of Hulkenberg. “For me, he’s always been a top-five driver in the grid every time he’s been in F1 – his level of talent and race execution is incredible."

The result promoted Hulkenberg into ninth place in the World Drivers’ Standings and promoted Sauber to sixth place in the Constructor’s Standings, leapfrogging Haas, Aston Martin, and Racing Bulls in the process.