Nico Hulkenberg says he has been training harder in case a full-time Formula 1 racing opportunity comes along for 2023.
The German driver’s last complete season in F1 was 2019, his third with Renault, after which he was dropped in favour of Esteban Ocon.
Since then, the ‘Hulk’ has added four more to his total of F1 race starts as a result of substitute appearances due to drivers having contracted Covid-19.
It would have been five except his Racing Point car did not fire up for the 2020 British Grand Prix. A week later, he finished seventh at Silverstone, again deputising for Sergio Perez, and then eighth in that year’s Eifel Grand Prix when Lance Stroll had to withdraw due to illness.
This season, Hulkenberg competed in the first two rounds, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, for Aston Martin as Sebastian Vettel was ruled out. He has remained as the team’s third driver/development driver but without any further race weekend action.
However, the 35-year-old is being linked with a move to Haas for 2023, although according to reports he has dropped to the status of a clear third favourite behind current incumbent Mick Schumacher and another comeback hopeful, Antonio Giovinazzi.
Nevertheless, Hulkenberg is getting himself into stronger physical shape just in case the call from Guenther Steiner comes to give him the thumbs-up.
Asked during a YouTube video interview with Lissie Mackintosh if his training routine is as hard as it has always been, Hulkenberg said: “No, because obviously I’m the third driver but it’s only in some emergency cases [I’ll be driving].
“So the training intensity also is probably a little bit less and lower than at the beginning of my career or than when you’re active.
“But who knows? Maybe there’s an opportunity for next year for the future. So recently, I’ve been picking up the training intensity a bit again.”
In response to a question about the adaptation he has undergone to becoming a third driver, Hulkenberg replied: “Obviously if you are not in the car, you are not in the hotseat. You don’t have the performance pressure, you don’t have to answer to the media or anyone.
“So from that point of view, it’s a bit more relaxed. But of course there are times when I miss the competition – being on the grid, feeling that adrenalin, the excitement, the kick of racing in Formula 1.” (PlanetF1)