Nico Hülkenberg says he expects to be operating to his full potential within a couple of grands prix as he prepares to make a full-time return to Formula 1.
Hülkenberg has not raced in Formula 1 full-time since leaving Renault at the end of the 2019 season.
He has started four races across 2020 and 2022 – for Racing Point/Aston Martin as a reserve driver – and made his most recent start in Jeddah last season.
The German did not race in any other category during his absence from a permanent Formula 1 race seat.
“There is no rule of thumb or there’s no law for that,” he said on taking time to return to top form.
“There’s obviously a feeling that you build and some it comes back faster. For some it takes longer.
“But I’d like to think that within a couple of weekends I can be close to my best and keep building and keep going from there.”
Hülkenberg tested Haas’ VF-22 at the end of 2022 in Abu Dhabi before sampling the VF-23 for the first time during a shakedown on Tuesday, ahead of the opening day of the pre-season test on Thursday.
Hülkenberg completed 51 laps in the VF-23 on Thursday, placing 11th of the 19 participants.
“I felt last year in Abu Dhabi, every car has a different feel, a different DNA,” he said. “Even when they start the car, the vibrations of the power unit, there’s differences.
“It’s early days. That’s where you start working to exploit the car, exploit the limits. Obviously, this is only where it starts. It’s a long, long road and still many things to work on to improve on.
“I always enjoyed this time in these exciting early days because there’s so much to explore and so much to see and to work on.
“You take it all in, you process it, you work with the team, with your engineers, and you come up the next day with the new things that you didn’t try again. You feel it, you work through it over and over again. So it’s exciting.”
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