Nicolas Hülkenberg (; born 19 August 1987) is a German racing driver who competes in Formula One for Audi. In endurance racing, Hülkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with Porsche.
Born and raised in Emmerich am Rhein, Hülkenberg began competitive kart racing at age 10, winning several national titles before graduating to junior formulae in 2005. Hülkenberg won his first championship in Formula BMW ADAC that year. He then won the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix series, representing Germany. After winning the 2007 Masters of Formula 3 and the 2008 Formula 3 Euro Series, Hülkenberg progressed to the GP2 Series in 2009 with ART; he won the championship in his debut season, becoming the third driver to win the GP2/Formula 2 title in their rookie season after Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Following test driver roles from to , Hülkenberg signed for Williams in , making his Formula One debut at the . After claiming his maiden pole position at the , he was replaced by Pastor Maldonado at the end of the season. He joined Force India as a reserve driver in . He was then promoted to a full-time seat for the season. In , he competed for Sauber, before returning to Force India in to partner Sergio Pérez. After his and campaigns at Force India, Hülkenberg switched to Renault for . Replaced by Esteban Ocon at the end of , he returned to Force India—then known as Racing Point and later re-branded as Aston Martin—as a reserve driver from to ; Hülkenberg substituted for Pérez and Lance Stroll at three Grands Prix in 2020, and for Sebastian Vettel at two in 2022. He returned as a full-time driver with Haas in and , alongside Kevin Magnussen. Hülkenberg re-joined Sauber for his campaign, where he achieved his maiden podium at the , ahead of their acquisition by Audi in .
As of the , Hülkenberg has achieved pole position, fastest laps, and podium finish in Formula One. He holds the Formula One records for the most starts without a win () and the most starts before a podium (239), before breaking the podium-less streak at the 2025 British Grand Prix after finishing in 3rd place, behind race winner Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in 2nd. Hülkenberg is contracted to remain at Audi until at least the end of the 2027 season.
Early and personal life Hülkenberg was born in Emmerich am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany to Klaus Dieter Hülkenberg and Susanne Hülkenberg. Dieter Hülkenberg owns a shipping company, Hülkenberg Spedition e. K, based in Emmerich am Rhein. Hülkenberg trained as a freight forwarding agent at his father's company. He is fluent in German, Dutch, French, and English.
Hülkenberg lives in Monaco. He is married to Lithuanian fashion designer Eglė Ruškytė, having been in a relationship with her since 2015. Together, they have one daughter born in 2021.
Hülkenberg was previously managed by Willi Weber, the long-time manager of Michael Schumacher. Weber predicted that Hülkenberg would be ready for Formula One by . He also praised Hülkenberg as an "unbelievable talent" and said he reminded him of Schumacher as a young driver. He also stated that he nicknamed him "The Hulk", after the fictional superhero, in reference to Hülkenberg changing his personality whilst at the wheel.
Junior racing career
Karting 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.
Formula BMW Hülkenberg made his German Formula BMW debut in 2005, 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.
A1 Grand Prix Hülkenberg 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.
Formula Three
Hülkenberg finished fifth in the German Formula Three Championship (ATS Formel 3 Cup) in 2006. For 2007 he switched to the Formula 3 Euro Series 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 and added a third at the Nürburgring. 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. Hülkenberg finished his rookie season 3rd in the championship, with four wins and 72 points.
Hülkenberg won the non-championship Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder from teammate (and F3 Euro Series championship leader) Romain Grosjean after Grosjean stalled at the start. Hülkenberg won the Formula 3 Euro Series championship in 2008. He amassed 76 of his total of 85 points during the feature races on Saturdays, taking seven wins in the progress.
GP2
Hülkenberg made his GP2 Asia Series début for the ART Grand Prix team at the third round of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series in Bahrain, replacing Pastor Maldonado, and he took pole position on his first attempt. He finished both races in fourth place and this left him in seventh place in the championship. His second race weekend in Qatar, saw him become the first night race pole-sitter, and promptly turned that into becoming the first race-winner under lights after a dominant performance. Such was his performance that he ended up over thirteen seconds clear of second-placed driver Sergio Pérez. He finished third in the sprint race, taking his championship points tally to 27 from just four races. Despite this, Maldonado returned to the seat for the final two rounds and Hülkenberg finished sixth in the championship.
Hülkenberg continued with ART into the 2009 GP2 Series, partnering Pastor Maldonado. He was point-less in the first round in Catalunya, then scored his first points in Monaco, including a podium in the sprint race, where the top eight on the starting grid are the feature race finishers in reversed order. At the following round at Istanbul Park he took his first pole position, but did not make the podium in either race. At Silverstone he again scored in both races, including a podium in the sprint race. He took his first win in dominant fashion at his home round, starting from pole position and taking the fastest lap. In the sprint race he rose from eighth to win the race with the fastest lap, becoming the first driver to do the weekend double since Giorgio Pantano at Monza in the 2006 season. In doing so, he became only the second driver to complete the clean sweep, with pole position, two fastest laps and two wins, following Nelson Piquet Jr. who did so at the Hungaroring in 2006. Hülkenberg won again at the Hungaroring, in the feature race; again at Valencia, this time during the sprint race, having finished second while starting from pole in the feature race; then came home second in the Belgian feature race. He clinched the title with two races to spare, after a third-place finish in the Monza sprint race which gave him an unassailable 22-point lead heading into the final round, and in the process became the first driver to clinch the championship without the need for a final round decider. He became the third rookie GP2 champion after Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, and the second behind Hamilton to win the GP3/F3 title, and the GP2/F2 title in consecutive years. A fifth win followed at Algarve, allowing Hülkenberg to break the 100-point barrier, as he eventually won the title by 25 points from Vitaly Petrov. Worthy of note is that Hülkenberg ended the season 64 points clear of his teammate Pastor Maldonado, who would win the title the following season and take his Williams F1 race seat for the 2011 season.
Formula One career
Hülkenberg first drove a Formula One car in a test for Williams in 2007. His manager, Willi Weber, had organised the test after failing to conclude a deal with Renault boss Flavio Briatore. The two-day test was held at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain, and Hülkenberg outpaced Williams's driver Kazuki Nakajima, and set laptimes 0.4 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg. Hülkenberg's performance at the test led to the Williams team signing him as a test driver, and he competed in several test sessions in addition to racing in lower formulae. His test contract with Williams was extended for 2009, despite in-season tests being banned from that season. Hülkenberg would also act as the team's reserve driver, in the event of the regular drivers being unable to compete.
Williams (2010) On 2 November 2009, Hülkenberg was confirmed to race for Williams in . Hülkenberg's teammate for his first season would be the experienced driver Rubens Barrichello, who moved from Brawn GP which in turn was bought out by Mercedes-Benz.
Hülkenberg made his debut at the , recovering from an early spin to finish in fourteenth position. At the second round in Australia, he was involved in a first-lap incident with Kamui Kobayashi, after the Japanese driver's front wing failed and sent him into the barrier, rebounding into the path of Hülkenberg. At the third round in Malaysia, Hülkenberg made it to Q3 for the first time, qualifying in fifth place; out-qualifying teammate Barrichello for the first time. Hülkenberg looked set to finish eleventh in the race until Fernando Alonso blew his engine three laps from the end, thus promoting Hülkenberg to tenth place and with the new-for-2010 points system, Hülkenberg along with Jaime Alguersuari scored their first points in Formula One. He was tenth again at Silverstone, and at the he finished sixth, a career best. He also picked up points finishes in Italy, Singapore, and Korea. At the , Renault driver Vitaly Petrov misjudged a move at the start and cut across Hülkenberg's nose thus taking them both out of the race. Towards the end of the season there were reports that he could lose his seat at Williams to the GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado due to the money Maldonado could bring to the team. Force India's Adrian Sutil was also linked to replace Hülkenberg at Williams.
On 6 November, Hülkenberg gained his first Formula One pole position, by 1.049 seconds over Sebastian Vettel at the in a rain-affected qualifying session. This was the Williams team's first pole position since the 2005 European Grand Prix. Hülkenberg completed a final lap after pole position was already secured, increasing his gap to the rest of the field. After losing the lead on the opening lap, he eventually finished the race in eighth place, having been passed by drivers in more competitive cars.
After the , team boss Frank Williams confirmed that Hülkenberg would not be driving for the team in .
Force India (2011–2012) 2011
On 26 January 2011, Hülkenberg was confirmed as Force India's reserve driver for the season, where he would drive for the team in the Friday practice sessions. He replaced Paul di Resta, who was promoted to a race position in the team. Hülkenberg competed in the first practice sessions of all the races apart from Monaco, Hungary, Korea, India and Abu Dhabi.
2012
On 16 December 2011, Force India announced di Resta and Hülkenberg would be their drivers for the 2012 season.