Ahead of one of the most hotly anticipated Formula 1 seasons in years, it was announced that four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would be missing the first race in Bahrain after testing positive for COVID-19. In his place will be former F1 driver and Aston Martin’s designated reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg, who will be taking over Vettel’s duties from Friday practice through the race on Sunday.
Over his nearly decade-long full-time F1 career (which ended back in 2019 with Renault), Hulkenberg’s talent allowed him to come agonizingly close to a handful of podium finishes, but it never went his way, leading many people to feel that he had unfinished business in the sport.
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Hulkenberg the chance to redeem himself back in 2020, filling in for both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll at Racing Point for various races during the season. In those chances, he did not start the first race after an engine failure, finished seventh after qualifying third in the second due to a tire wear issue (he was on course to finish in fourth place before that), and finished eighth after qualifying dead last in the third race. All impressive performances considering he didn’t have a full-time drive in the car.
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Now, two years later, Hulkenberg has another chance with the same team (now called Aston Martin), and the odds could be in his favor. Aston landed solidly in the midfield during this year’s pre-season testing, and the team was able to achieve two podium finishes last season. On top of that, with the new technical regulations aiming to make for closer racing, it will be interesting to see how Hulkenberg will perform at what is bound to be an exciting first race of the season.