‘We’ll miss him next year’ – Eddie Jordan weighs in on Audi-bound driver’s future

Eddie Jordan whispers into the ear of David Coulthard, the former driver for Red Bull and McLaren.

Recording back-to-back P6 results while his 2025 team Sauber have yet to get off the mark, Eddie Jordan says Nico Hulkenberg will be missed next season.

Returning to Formula 1 last season when he was recalled to the grid by Haas, Hulkenberg emerged as a Saturday star with his one-lap pace but was let down by Haas and their tyre-eating VF-23 in the Grands Prix.

Eddie Jordan will ‘miss’ Nico Hulkenberg next season

However, this season the German has bagged 22 of the team’s 27 points to put Haas comfortably into seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, it can be debated whether a portion of Hulkenberg’s points in the early part of the season were obtained through legitimate or questionable methods with the assistance of his teammate Kevin Magnussen. Nevertheless, Hulkenberg and Haas were solely responsible for his consecutive sixth-place finishes in Austria and Silverstone.

He secured the ninth position during the qualifications at the Red Bull Ring. However, he managed to climb up to the sixth position during the race, although this was partially due to Lando Norris’ retirement. Similarly, in Silverstone, he started from the sixth position on the grid and ultimately finished in sixth place, partially benefiting from George Russell’s retirement.

Hulkenberg’s impressive performance follows the official announcement of his move to Audi/Sauber for the upcoming season, as he has secured a long-term contract with the Hinwil team.

Since the announcement was made after the Chinese Grand Prix on April 26th, Haas has seen a significant increase in their points from five to 27. On the other hand, Sauber/Audi, who were previously the leading non-points scorers, have now dropped down to 10th place.

At the halfway mark of the championship, they find themselves as the sole team yet to earn a single point. Their most notable achievement of the campaign so far was Valtteri Bottas securing P11 in the season-opening Bahrain GP.

As Hulkenberg gets ready to switch teams, Jordan expresses a sentiment of “we’ll miss him” regarding his departure.

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“Nico Hulkenberg, we mustn’t forget about that,” the former F1 team boss said during the Formula For Success podcast, “to bring the Haas into that position in the finishing order.

“When considering the accomplishments of this individual, it’s impressive to note that he has been associated with Force India previously, triumphantly securing victory at Le Mans. Despite a temporary absence from Formula 1, he has now returned as the key figure in the Audi program.”

We extend our best wishes for his success. In fact, we will feel his absence next year as he adds a remarkable presence to the situation.

Hulkenberg expressed his happiness as his consecutive sixth place finishes contributed to Haas’ rise to seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Hulkenberg, speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, expressed his surprise and satisfaction at being just four points behind VCARB in the race to lead the back half of the grid, stating, “It exceeded all expectations from the beginning.”

“We managed to stay on par with everyone, possibly even surpassing them in our job performance. I believe the outcome may also be influenced by the specific weekend and track conditions. Hence, we’ll need to be patient and observe, but it’s undeniably an impressive comeback in our narrative.”

Read next: Yuki Tsunoda interview: Four burning questions including VCARB’s future

 

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