With the surprising news of Sebastian Vettel’s corona disease, Formula 1 racing team Aston Martin caused an uproar among German motorsport fans on Thursday morning. Nico Hulkenberg will travel to the Bahrain Grand Prix as a substitute. A long-awaited return to a Formula 1 car, but one that also comes with risks.
According to information from our colleagues from RTL, Hülkenberg will leave Amsterdam on Thursday followingnoon for Bahrain, where the first free practice sessions for the new Formula 1 season will begin in Sakhir just one day later.
As reported by RTL reporter Felix Görner, the 34-year-old has not been in a racing car since October. Hülkenberg has not yet contested any test drives in the newly designed Formula 1 racer from Aston Martin.
“It will be a real blind flight in the new Aston Martin for Nico Hulkenberg,” Görner is certain.
So far, Hülkenberg can look back on 179 Grand Prix appearances in his Formula 1 career. The Emmericher has not been a regular driver since 2020.
In 2020 he was still allowed to contest two races at Racing Point – also as a reserve driver – following he failed to start in another due to an engine problem. At that time he achieved respectable results – eighth place at Silverstone and eighth place at the Nürburgring.
Hülkenberg completed only three test days in the simulator
According to RTL information, Hülkenberg only knows the Aston Martin AMR22 from three days of training in the racing simulator.
In his first temporary job in 2020 at Racing Point, he proved that the 2018 world championship seventh can get used to a new vehicle extremely quickly. Back then, as a substitute driver for Sergio Pérez, he only arrived at the Silverstone race track on Friday and drove the bright pink racer into the top ten in both free practice sessions.
The expectations of Hülkenberg will also be manageable this time. The ex-regular driver from Williams, Force India, Sauber, Renault and Racing Point wants to convince all doubters once more.
The first free practice session in Bahrain is scheduled for Friday at 1:00 p.m. German time, with the race taking place on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. German time.
