{"id":213288,"date":"2025-06-25T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/213288\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T13:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:54:09","slug":"f1-driver-in-second-spring-touted-as-new-red-bull-wildcard-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/213288\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 driver in ‘second spring’ touted as new Red Bull wildcard option"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Helmut Marko has all but ruled out signing Nico Hulkenberg, Ralf Schumacher would like to see it happen as he believes the German could play a \u201cgood role\u201d alongside Max Verstappen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hulkenberg arrived in Formula 1 in 2010 as a promising young talent having won several titles in the junior formula, including the 2009 GP2 Series where he beat several of his future F1 rivals, including Sergio Perez.<\/p>\n

Nico Hulkenberg to Red Bull? Ralf Schumacher says yes<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t able to reach those same heights in Formula 1, and twice spent time off the grid, most recently from 2020 to 2022, during which time he put in super-sub performances with Racing Point and again when the team was rebranded Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

His return to the grid full-time with Haas saw Hulkenberg take on the title of Mr. Saturday with his qualifying performances, while this year he\u2019s flying the flag for Sauber with 20 points<\/a>, 16 more than the team scored in the entire F1 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n

However, with his 237 Formula 1 starts, the German has the unwanted record of having the most F1 starts without a podium result.<\/p>\n

It could\u2019ve been a very different story had Red Bull signed him in 2020.<\/p>\n

More on F1 records<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 The unfortunate holders of the most unwanted records in Formula 1<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 Heartbreak: Eight times an F1 race leader has crashed out<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking about the German to Sky Deutschland, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko mused<\/a>: \u201cMaybe it\u2019s a good thing that he didn\u2019t get the seat next to Max anyway. He was in discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Perez won the race in Bahrain, which was just in the decision-making phase and then tipped the scales.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say, he did very well after his unexpected comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a fan of Hulkenberg\u2019s, Marko went on to rule out enticing him to Red Bull as Verstappen\u2019s next team-mate, saying: \u201cHe has a long-term contract with Audi. That\u2019s something I wouldn\u2019t give up either.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as Red Bull\u2019s struggles to find the perfect team-mate for Verstappen continue, former F1 driver Schumacher believes the 37-year-old would be the perfect team-mate for Verstappen.<\/p>\n

Declaring that Hulkenberg is having a \u201csecond spring\u201d in his Formula 1 career, Schumacher reckons his compatriot\u2019s age and experience would play a \u201cgood role\u201d alongside the four-time World Champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be honest and say that Nico has made his development in life like all of us,\u201d Schumacher told Sky\u2019s Backstage Boxengasse<\/strong> podcast. \u201cHe is now a father, 37, I think, so from that point of view, you see things a bit more relaxed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may sound a little strange, but in Formula 1 he is experiencing a second spring, so to be able to come back and still have his place and still be able to perform at his best is going perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Helmut Marko said it was good that they decided on Perez at the end of 2020 and not on Nico Hulkenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows what else would have been possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have liked to see it now, I also believe that Nico could\u2019ve played a good role in a life at Red Bull with Max Verstappen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think that because the two get along well, Max would have taken to him even more,\u201d Schumacher added.<\/p>\n

Last year, Hulkenberg signed a multi-year contract with Sauber that will see him racing for the team when it is rebranded Audi and becomes a full works team in F1 2026, the first year of the sport\u2019s reset with all-new cars and engines.<\/p>\n

As for Red Bull, the Milton Keynes squad currently has Yuki Tsunoda in the car alongside Verstappen but according to Marko he hasn\u2019t kicked on<\/a> as the team had hoped when they dropped Liam Lawson and gave Tsunoda his opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYuki started well,\u201d Marko told BBC\u2019s The Inside Track. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have the success that we expected from him. But on Friday, he\u2019s always within a tenth or two-tenths of Max, which we didn\u2019t have for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Yuki has to translate his speed, which is there, into points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tsunoda has scored just seven points in Red Bull colours in his eight races, while Verstappen has scored 119 in that period.<\/p>\n

Read next: Sebastian Vettel confirms Red Bull talks over F1 return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although Helmut Marko has all but ruled out signing Nico Hulkenberg, Ralf Schumacher would like to see it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,225,12,226,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-213288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-red-bull","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114744345526155643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}