Road to Formula 1

He was born on 19 August 1987 in Emmerich am Rhein, in western Germany near the Dutch border. He won four titles in the junior categories: German Formula BMW ADAC in 2005, A1 Grand Prix with Team Germany in the 2006–2007 season, the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2008 and GP2 in 2009. He won the last two with ART Grand Prix, taking the GP2 title in his very first season. A year before that, in 2007, he finished third in the Formula 3 Euro Series and won the Masters of Formula 3.

Williams: debut and pole in Brazil

He made his debut for Williams at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March 2010, starting 13th and finishing 14th, a lap down on the leader. He scored his first point in his third race — the Malaysian Grand Prix on 4 April 2010, where he qualified fifth and finished 10th. His best result of the season was sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 1 August 2010.

On Saturday 6 November 2010, on a drying Interlagos track, he took pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix with a time of 1:14.470 — more than a second faster than the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber. In the race on 7 November he finished eighth. For 2011 Williams signed Pastor Maldonado, and Hülkenberg spent the season as a Force India test driver.

Force India, Sauber and Renault

He won a race seat back in 2012 with Force India: his first race was the Australian Grand Prix on 18 March 2012, and his best result was fourth at the Belgian Grand Prix on 2 September 2012. He spent 2013 at Sauber: at the Italian Grand Prix on 8 September 2013 he started third and finished fifth, and at the Korean Grand Prix on 6 October 2013 he was fourth.

From 2014 to 2016 he drove for Force India again. On 3 July 2016 at the Austrian Grand Prix he started from second but retired with brake failure; on 28 August 2016 he finished fourth at the Belgian Grand Prix. From 2017 to 2019 he raced for the Renault works team, starting with the Australian Grand Prix on 26 March 2017. At his home German Grand Prix on 28 July 2019 he was running fourth but went off the track and retired.

On 13–14 June 2015, on a weekend free of championship racing, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans at his first attempt, driving the number 19 Porsche 919 Hybrid with Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. He also drove both the opening and the closing stints of the race.

Stand-in drives, Haas and an Audi contract

After the 2019 season he was left without a race seat, but he stepped in as a substitute three times. On 2 August 2020 he was due to replace Sergio Pérez at Racing Point in the British Grand Prix but could not start because of a power unit problem; a week later, on 9 August 2020, he qualified third for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix and finished seventh. On 11 October 2020, at the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, he replaced Lance Stroll and finished eighth from last place, 20th, on the grid.

In 2021 and 2022 he was Aston Martin’s reserve driver, and in March 2022 he raced twice in place of Sebastian Vettel: 17th at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 20 March 2022 and 12th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 27 March 2022. He returned to a full season in 2023 with Haas: his first race was the Bahrain Grand Prix on 5 March 2023, and his best result of the year was seventh at the Australian Grand Prix on 2 April 2023. In 2024 he finished sixth twice, at the Austrian Grand Prix on 30 June and the British Grand Prix on 7 July.

On 26 April 2024 Audi announced that Hülkenberg had signed a multi-year contract with Sauber: he would spend the 2025 season with Sauber and become a driver for the Audi works team from 2026. He was the first driver named by the project.

Sauber and a first podium

He finished his first race for Sauber, the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March 2025, in seventh place after starting 17th. On 1 June 2025 he finished fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix.

On 6 July 2025 at the British Grand Prix he started 19th and, on a wet but gradually drying track, finished third, keeping Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari behind him. It was Hülkenberg’s first World Championship podium — at his 239th start — and Sauber’s first podium since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, where Kamui Kobayashi finished third.

2026 season

In 2026 he races for the Audi Revolut F1 Team — Audi’s works team from Hinwil with its own power unit, which previously raced as Sauber; his team-mate is Gabriel Bortoleto. It is the first season of the new technical regulations: power units that draw around half their output from the electrical side, and active aerodynamics.

Hülkenberg missed Audi’s first Grand Prix, in Australia on 8 March 2026: he qualified 11th, but a technical problem on the way to the grid meant he could not take the start. His first points of the year came at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 26 July 2026 with ninth place. On 23 August 2026 he finished eighth at Zandvoort, and on 13 September 2026 he was 10th at the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit.