Nicolas Hülkenberg

Infobox racing driver
name = Nico Hülkenberg


pixels = 180px
caption = Hülkenberg at the Malaysian round of the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season
nationality = flagicon|GermanyGerman
date of birth = Birth date and age|1987|08|19
place of birth = Emmerich am Rhein, Germany
related to =
current series = F3 Euroseries
first year = 2007
current team = ART Grand Prix
car number = 1
former teams =
starts = 36
wins = 10
poles = 7
fastest laps = 8
best finish = 3rd (72 pts)
year = 2007
prev series = A1 Grand Prix
F3 Germany ATS Cup
Formula BMW ADAC
prev series years = 2006-07
2006
2005
titles = A1 Grand Prix w/(Vietoris)
F3 Masters
Formula BMW ADAC
title years = 2006-07
2007
2005
awards =
award years =

Nicolas "Nico" Hülkenberg (born August 19, 1987 in Emmerich am Rhein) is a German professional racecar driver. Hülkenberg made his karting debut in 1997, at the age of 10. In 2002 he was German Junior Karting Champion and the following year he won the German Kart Championship. cite web | title = Meet the rookies: Nico Hülkenberg | publisher = F1Fanatic.co.uk | date = 2007 | url = http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/08/16/meet-the-rookies-nico-hulkenberg/ | accessdate =2007-08-16]

2005 saw his debut in German Formula BMW. His first season was a very successful one, with Hülkenberg dominating the championship and winning the title comfortably. He finished first in the Formula BMW world final but was stripped of the win after it was claimed he had brake-tested his rivals during a safety car period.

Hülkenberg moved up to Formula 3 for 2006, winning one round in the German championship. He also joined the German A1 Grand Prix team for the 2006-07 season. Nine wins in his rookie season made him the most successful driver in A1GP history. It meant he almost single-handedly won Germany the championship with 128 points, 35 more than Team New Zealand.

For 2007 he switched to the F3 Euroseries with the ASM team that had taken Lewis Hamilton and Paul di Resta to the last two championships. His first win came at the Norisring from 18th on the grid, he won again in the rain at Zandvoort cite web | title = F3 Euro Zandvoort 2: Hülkenberg wins in wet | publisher = MaximumMotorsport.co.uk | date = 2007 | url = http://www.maximummotorsport.co.uk/2007/07/29/f3-euro-zandvoort-2-hulkenberg-wins-in-wet/ | accessdate =2007-08-16] and added a third at the Nürburgring. cite web | title = F3 Euro Nürburgring 1: Hülkenberg dominates | publisher = MaximumMotorsport.co.uk | date = 2007 | url = http://www.maximummotorsport.co.uk/2007/09/02/f3-euro-nurburgring-hulkenberg-dominates/ | accessdate =2007-09-03] But he ran into trouble at Magny-Cours, being penalised in qualifying for passing the chequered flag twice, and crashing into Filip Salaquarda in the race.

He won the (non-championship) Ultimate Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder from team mate (and F3 Euroseries championship leader) Romain Grosjean after the Swiss stalled at the start. cite web | title = Hülkenberg wins F3 Masters as Grosjean stalls | publisher = MaximumMotorsport.co.uk | date = 2007 | url = http://www.maximummotorsport.co.uk/2007/08/05/hulkenberg-wins-masters-as-grosjean-stalls/ | accessdate =2007-08-16]

Hülkenberg is currently managed by Willi Weber, the long-time manager of Michael Schumacher. Weber has gone on record saying that Hülkenberg would be ready for Formula One by 2008. He has also praised Hülkenberg as an "unbelievable talent" and says he reminds him of Schumacher as a young driver.cite web | title=Weber: he's the next Schumi! | work=Overdrive | date=2006-12-05 | url=http://www.odmotoring.com/index.php?display=racing&id=125 | accessdate=2006-12-05]

Hülkenberg completed a Formula One test in 2007. Willi Weber confirmed that he was in contact with Renault boss Flavio Briatore about organising a first F1 test for the young German, but he finally got his chance to test for an F1 team in December 4, 2007; when he was given a seat by Williams at Jerez. The two-day test went well. He outpaced Kazuki Nakajima, the official driver for Williams-Toyota next year, on the first day and was only 0.4 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg. His flawless performance in the test impressed the Williams F1 team and secured himself a test driver seat in the team for 2008. cite web | title=Williams sign Hulkenberg as test driver | publisher = autosport.com | date=2007-12-13 | url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/64371 | accessdate=2007-12-14]

Racing record

"*Championship in progress"

References

External links

* [http://www.nico-huelkenberg.de Nicolas Hülkenberg official web page]
* [http://www.driverdb.com/racingdriver4072.html Nico Hülkenberg career statistics]