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Nico Hulkenberg will no longer drive for the Haas Formula 1 team in 2025, the American racing team confirmed via social media on Friday morning. The 36-year-old German, who has been playing for Haas since last season, has opted for a new adventure at KICK Sauber.
Hulkenberg will return to Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber in 2025, for whom he also competed in 2013. The racing team will undergo a real metamorphosis next season and will be completely taken over by the German car manufacturer Audi. The German responded to his transfer on Facebook. “It is a major project with high ambitions and an enormous challenge, one that I am really looking forward to. During the conversations with team principals Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann, I felt a sense of appreciation and mutual understanding regarding the common goals.” The Finn Valtteri Bottas and the Chinese Guanyu Zhou currently drive for the Swiss racing team, but both drivers are still without a contract in 2025.
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Hulkenberg has driven alongside Kevin Magnussen at Moneygram Haas F1 Team since 2023. The experienced German replaced his younger compatriot Mick Schumacher, son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, and left his job as a test driver at Aston Martin. Last season, Hülkenberg was able to collect nine World Cup points, which was significantly more than the measly three points of his Danish teammate Magnussen. The German finished seventh in Australia and also came out of the Austrian GP with three World Cup points.
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This season the German piled up the top ten places. Tenth in Saudi Arabia, ninth in Australia and another tenth in China: once again Hülkenberg scored better than Magnussen, who finished tenth only once Down Under. “At the same time, I would like to thank the entire Haas F1 Team, especially Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner, for putting their trust in me a year and a half ago and making a comeback to F1 possible. I will do everything I can in the remaining nineteen races to be as successful as possible.”
Alongside four-time world champion and compatriot Sebastian Vettel, Hülkenberg lost his permanent seat at Aston Martin in 2022. He previously held positions at Williams, Force India (a predecessor of Aston Martin), Sauber and Renault. He has already participated in more than two hundred Grands Prix in Formula 1, collected more than five hundred (!) World Championship points, but has never had a taste of the podium.