Aston Martin F1's Nico Hulkenberg aims to take laps 'to get some of the rust off'

Nico Hulkenberg is back to being the 'super-sub' this weekend for Sebastian Vettel. The German driver made a decent start to the 'one-off' weekend and was just a tenth of a second off Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin. There is, however, the other all-important factor in physical fitness that Hulkenberg is well aware of.

The driver hasn't raced since he last drove for the team in 2020 and admits that the strains of an F1 car are going to be difficult to manage. Speaking about the weekend and how the Bahrain GP just sprung upon him, Nico Hulkenberg said:

“I got called out bed pretty much yesterday morning. I got the news, packed up and got going. It’s obviously a bit of an interesting situation again, so I’m just going to take it lap by lap, session by session.”

He further went on to add, saying:

“I haven’t been in the car for five or six days so it’s probably going to take a few laps to get some of the rust off me. To obviously get the feeling again, to get a good harmony with the car and find the limit. Physically, for sure the driving fitness is not there so there’s going to be many challenges, the overload of information today. For me, it’s just about getting in the car, get up to speed with it and get a good feel.”

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I've done this before so I know what to expect: Nico Hulkenberg

This is not the first time Nico Hulkenberg has been called on short notice though. He did the same for Racing Point in the 2020 F1 season at Silverstone when Sergio Perez caught COVID and then at the Nurburgring when Lance Stroll suffered the same. The Hulk, as he is informally known, alluded to that prior experience as something he could count on to perform this weekend.

Speaking about his earlier outings and their impact on his current drive, he said:

“[I’ve] just [done] simulator stuff, just the Aston [Martin] sim. That’s the only thing I drove. In real life racing, zero. The only thing is I’ve done it before, I know what to expect. I know how it is to walk in the garage and see the car, I have that experience and for sure that will help me.”

He then spoke of starting from scratch this time round, saying:

“Obviously, the time away has been quite some days and these cars are completely new. The last time I came [back] it was to my benefit that I knew what that generation of cars were like and what I was going to get more or less. This is a totally white piece of paper now that I’m about to find and [I hope] I hit the ground running. I just need to feel it, drive it and learn as fast as possible, but certainly not an easy situation.”

The German has done an admirable job so far. It will be interesting to see how he copes with the fitness challenges of doing an entire race.