Nico Hulkenberg's improved performances: The man or the car?

Nico Hulkenberg despite performing remarkably in the second-half of the 2013 is yet to get a seat for 2014

He is arguably the best driver on the grid who is yet to win a race in his career. Add to that, the consistency of finishing races and he becomes one of the most underrated drivers on the grid. Yes, it’s Nico Hulkenberg, the man who remains the favorite to take Kimi Raikkonen‘s seat in Lotus for 2014. He was also considered by Ferrari for the 2014 season before Raikkonen made a return to the Italian team. A remarkable turn around from the first half of the season with impressive performances in both qualifying and the race have helped his cause and chances of getting a seat with one of the front-runners.

The man

As a young driver aspiring to make it big in Formula One, Hulkenberg won titles in almost every category he participated. His debut for Williams wasn’t the best in terms of points (22 points finishing 14th and a best finish of sixth in Hungary) but he impressed everyone with his skills helping secure William’s their first pole position in almost five years.

Unable to get a seat for 2011, he was signed by Force India as a test driver before finally getting to race for the Indian team in 2012. He comprehensively out-performed teammate Paul Di Resta(finishing with 63 points to Di Resta’s 46) whilst securing a best fourth place finish in Belgium.

The first half of the 2013 season wasn’t a good one for the German driver but he managed to outscore his rookie teammate, Esteban Gutierrez amid news of financial instability at Sauber. But on what can be considered a remarkable turn-around, he has been quick in qualifying since the Italian GP(third on the grid in Monza) and scoring 40 points in 7 races. During the races he battled against some of F1′s biggest stars and making a statement that he deserves a faster car.

Nico Hulkenberg’s performance in 2013 since the Italian GP

Grand Prix	Qualifying	Result	Points
Italy	3	5	10
Singapore	11	9	2
Korea	7	4	12
Japan	7	6	8
India	7	19	-
Abu Dhabi	5	14	-
United States	4	6	8

The machine

The Sauber C32 wasn’t at its best in the first half of the season. The news of financial woes at the Swiss made matters worse. Despite a promising eighth place for Hülkenberg in Malaysia, later performances confirmed that the C32 was far from the competitiveness shown by its predecessor. Hulkenberg scored only 7 points and rookie teammate couldn’t manage to get into the points. There were issues with aerodynamics and exhaust of the car and the chances of updates to modify the car looked bleak thanks to the financial struggle.

But things started to look good for Sauber once the Russian sponsorship was confirmed. The C32 went through an update in Hungary, where a modified exhaust concept was installed . There were improvements and the results started to show a couple of races later at the Italian GP. The funding certainly helped in the development and the both their drivers seemed comfortably with the set-up. The changes made to the Pirelli tyres complemented the setup and both drivers reaped benefits by finishing sixth and seventh in Japan giving the team its first double-points finish of the 2013 season.

So while Hulkenberg is undoubtedly a talented driver having shown his skills repeatedly during the 4 year old career in Formula One and particularly during the last few races, the fact is some of the accolades also belong to team Sauber for giving him the machine to bounce back in 2013 after the initial struggle. Formula One after-all is a team sport and the equation is incomplete if either is lacking competitiveness.