In 2024, Nico Hulkenberg was the solid midfield grafter whose regular points-scoring for Haas helped move the team up three places in the constructors’ championship compared to the year before. His reward was a call-up from Audi to join what will be their works team next year.
Haas began the year in the lower half of the midfield but the team made incursions into the points by strategically sacrificing Kevin Magnussen at times, allowing Hulkenberg to capitalise. This came about as Hulkenberg typically out-qualified his team mate, a pattern which continued throughout the season.
More often than not the VF-24 wasn’t quite quick enough to score points on merit. Hulkenberg demonstrated that point with a string of 11th-place finishes in Miami, Imola, Canada and Spain.
However once Haas began to make progress with their car, with perhaps the most successful upgrades they have ever introduced, Hulkenberg capitalised. He brilliantly re-passed Sergio Perez to claim sixth place in Austria, then repeated the result in Britain despite losing places at the start – his getaways were a recurring weakness.
Nico Hulkenberg
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 6 (x2) | 19 |
| GP finish | 6 (x2) | 18 |
| Points | 41 | |
Haas brought another package of upgrades for their car late in the season and Hulkenberg again responded with a string of points finishes. He beat Perez again for ninth in Singapore, then took eighth in Austin and ninth in Mexico, though he finished behind Magnussen for once at the latter.
There were a few notable slip-ups on the way, however. He tangled with Lance Stroll on the first lap in Bahrain, had a silly collision with Yuki Tsunoda in Monza and was poor in Qatar. And while he usually had the beating of Magnussen, Hulkenberg was beaten by Oliver Bearman on his two appearances for the team, after clipping a wall in Baku and spun out in Brazil.
Those incidents aside, Hulkenberg delivered the kind of season which underlined why many rated him so highly when he arrived in F1. It has earned him what could be a rewarding late career opportunity.
RaceFans’ driver rankings are based partly on the scores awarded to drivers for their performances in each round as well as other factors.
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