21 December 2023 , 17:35
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Returning Formula 1 veteran Nico Hulkenberg was a marvel for Haas in a difficult year - but more struggles in 2024 could encourage the German to Hulk Out.
There were questions over the 36-year-old ahead of his first full F1 campaign since leaving Renault in 2019. And Guenther Steiner really needed his new star to hit the ground running after controversially axing Mick Schumacher to give him that seat.
Fortunately for the team principal, Hulkenberg did exactly that. His performances across the season, especially his one-lap pace in qualifying, caught the eye and, on a personal level at least, most will consider it a successful return.
Sadly for Haas, though, it was about the only thing that went well for them. Though they had a decent qualifying car at times, their race pace was woeful and points were at a premium throughout the campaign.
They looked likely to avoid finishing bottom by virtue of AlphaTauri being even more terrible. But Red Bull's sister team found some performance in the final weeks of the campaign which saw them leap up to eighth, condemning Haas to a second 10th-placed finish in three years.
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Given Hulkenberg seemed to be doing about as well as he could with the car supplied to him, it was understandable to see him frustrated by the end of the campaign. In the final weeks of the season he bluntly admitted his team's poor results were "inevitable".
"We're paying a price for not bringing upgrades, for not finding performance," he stated. "Hopefully it's a wake-up call for everyone in the factory - at this rate you can't compete in F1."
Hulkenberg will continue to race for Haas in 2024 while Kevin Magnussen was also given a new deal despite struggling more than his team-mate. The grid features only one different racer compared to the start of the 2023 season - Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri instead of the axed Nyck de Vries - but the driver market is expected to be much more active in the next 12 months.
The German has been linked with more performant teams, while one of the strongest rumours has been with the nascent Audi project. Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, he failed to rule out the prospect of switching ahead of the carmaker's entry into the sport in 2026, when the existing Sauber outfit becomes its works team.
"Only time will tell," he responded cryptically. "Let's see how the season goes next year. Do we have a competitive car? Which people are recommended for which tasks? I can't answer with confidence now. We probably have to position ourselves a little differently internally so that the same thing doesn't happen again [at Haas]."