Hulkenberg leaves Haas with “a lof of good emotions” as he embars on his final race with the American team

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg reckons that he will leave Formula One’s Kannapolis-based outfit, Haas with a “lot of joy and fun” as he is prepared to make the switch to the future Audi works team.

Haas confirmed early in the season that Nico Hulkenberg would leave the team at the end of the current season as the German would embark on a new project by joining Kick Sauber, Audi’s future F1 outfit.

Asked to reflect on the last two years, the Emmerich-born driver explained that he will leave the American team with positive feelings as he has managed to exceed the expectations.

“Positive, with a lot of good emotions, with a lot of joy and fun that I had over the past two years. I think we’ve, you know, we’ve grown together and pretty strong in that time and it’s been a very fun ride and journey with them.

“I think we, at least personally for myself, you know, really outperformed the expectations, certainly that I had personally coming into, you know, the overtime part of my career after two years out.

“So I reflect on it in a very positive way. And especially this year you know I think it’s been very successful and I feel regardless of where we’re going to end up Sunday night you know we’ve had a very successful year and we kind of won already. But that doesn’t mean of course that we’re that we’re not going to try this weekend.

Asked to single out the highlight of the two years at Haas, Hulkenberg struggled to pinpoint a single event, but he rather emphasized that he felt at home at Haas.

“Well, I think naturally you always go back to the most successful races. But I think for me, that’s too simple. It’s just been, you know, the ride and the journey together. Like I said, I had a lot of fun and joy.

“And, you know, I’ve not always felt that much joy racing and working in Formula 1. So for me, that’s just the best thing and obviously the overtime of the overtime that is still to come from you know next year onwards I think that’s probably also the extended highlight.”

With Haas only being five points adrift of the sixth-placed Alpine in the constructors’ championship, the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a vital one for the American and the French outfit. After Alpine endured a lucky end to its race last time out in Qatar due to the third safety car intervention, Haas will need a very strong result to turn the situation around.

“I see it very tight. The whole midfield is very tight, like we saw over the last few weekends. Small things can make a big difference. I think it is going to be very difficult this weekend to turn it around after what happened last Sunday and them [Alpine] scoring a lot of points again.

“But our package is competitive. We’re quick on merit. Personally, all I want to achieve is to maximise and optimise this final weekend together and enjoy it,” concluded Hulkenberg.