As part of a new, daily series in the run-up to the start of the new season, Motorsport Week brings you brief left-field reflections and stories of teams, drivers and reserve/test drivers that will be part of the Formula 1 paddock in 2019.
Nico Hulkenberg is still waiting for his maiden Formula 1 podium after almost a decade of trying but he arrived in the championship with an outstanding junior record.
Hulkenberg won titles in GP2 and Formula 3 – and is also the only Formula 1 driver to have won motorsport’s (unofficial) World Cup, with his performances in the category bringing him to widespread attention. In 2005 a new single-seater series called A1GP was founded, with each team representing a country, using a Lola-designed chassis, Zytek engines and Cooper tyres. The championship took place across the Northern Hemisphere's winter/spring – ensuring its calendar did not clash with existing major series – visiting circuits in The Netherlands, Czech Republic, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and the United Kingdom. It promoted itself as the ‘World Cup of Motorsport’.
For the 2006/07 season Team Germany fielded the 19-year-old Hulkenberg, who won nine of the 20 races he entered – including six in a row – to win the title for his country. He had amassed sufficient points to ensure he could miss the Mexican round, where Germany was instead represented by Christian Vietoris, and still be assured of the crown.
Hulkenberg’s A1GP record of nine wins was surpassed only by Neel Jani – who started three times as many races in the championship’s history – before the series collapsed in 2009.
A handful of other drivers – including Sergio Perez – dabbled in A1GP before making it into F1, but only Hulkenberg enjoyed such a level of success.
