#27 · Audi
Nico Hülkenberg
The most-experienced driver on the grid never to have stood on the podium until 2025. Holds the record for most F1 starts without a win. Le Mans 24 Hours winner with Porsche in 2015.
0
Race wins
1
Podiums
1
Pole positions
0
Championships
Why he matters
Hülkenberg is the elder statesman of the 2026 grid: a 16-year veteran who has driven for Williams, Force India, Sauber, Renault, and Haas, returned from a multi-year reserve role to score the first podium of his career at Silverstone 2025, and is now the technical lead at Audi alongside Bortoleto. His role inside Audi is partly racing, partly engineering-feedback bedrock for a team-in-build.
How he drives
He is one of the cleanest racers on the grid — almost no on-track contact through 200+ Grand Prix starts. He is, however, not the quickest single-lap qualifier of his generation. His value to teams is reliability, mileage, and a calibrated steering wheel.
Watch for
- Friday practice — Hülkenberg’s long-run pace is consistently quoted by other teams’ engineers as the midfield reference.
- Wet weather — that 2010 Brazil pole tells you what to expect.
- His mentorship of Bortoleto. The pairing is a deliberate Audi choice: experienced operator, young talent, identical cars, learn from each other.