While not being one for conspiracy theories, I couldn’t help but suspect that there may have been a different tale to tell when Racing Point replacement driver Nico Hülkenberg’s F1 car failed to start for the British Grand Prix last Sunday morning. The question is, when was the last time a F1 car failed to make the grid? It just seemed too coincidental.
A quick whip round my knowledgeable F1 mates and Michael Clark informed me that it happened at the 2015 Belgian F1 Grand Prix. In fact, it was the same driver, Hülkenberg, and the same team albeit known back then as Force India.
Hülkenberg reported a loss of power while heading to the grid and returned to the pits. It happened again during the formation lap with his car stalling on the grid and that was that, recording a DNS (Did not start).
The German driver has talent to boot competing in over 177 Formula One races between 2010-20120 but never winning a race or stepping onto the podium. (He currently holds the record).
He has stood on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning with Kiwi Earl Bamber and Brit Nick Tandy for Porsche (Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1) in 2015.
We saw this incredibly talented youngster racing in New Zealand in the 2006/07 summer. It was the 2006/07 A1 Grand Prix Series and he was Team Germany’s driver.
The NZ round of the A1 Grand Prix took place in January 2007 at the Taupo
Motorsport Park and Hülkenberg qualified on pole, won both the Sprint and Feature races and set fastest times in both. I remember at the time how quick Kiwi Jonny Reid was but Hulkenberg was head and shoulders above the rest of the grid.
Such was his dominance that season that the 19 year-old won nine of the 20 A1GP races he competed in with Team Germany and finished on the podium in another five races.
Second overall for that season was Team New Zealand with Matt Halliday and Jonny Reid. Halliday had a couple of third places at the South African round while Reid both races in Indonesia and the Feature race in China. While Team NZ finished 35 points behind Germany, they narrowly claimed second from Team Great Britain by just one point.
2006/07 A1 Grand Prix – NZ round – 21 January 2007
Sprint Race results
1/ Germany, Nico Hülkenberg
2/ France, Loïc Duval
3/ New Zealand, Jonny Reid
4/ Netherlands, Jeroen Bleekemolen
5/ Switzerland, Sébastien Buemi
6/ Canada, James Hinchcliffe
7/ South Africa, Alan van der Merwe
8/ Great Britain, Robbie Kerr
9/ Italy, Enrico Toccacelo
10/ India, Narain Karthikeyan
11/ USA, Ryan Hunter-Reay
12/ Mexico, Salvador Duran
13/ China, Ho-Pin Tung
14/ Australia, Karl Reindler
15/ Indonesia, Ananda Mikola
16/ Brazil, Raphael Matos
17/ Czech, Republic Tomáš Enge
18/ Pakistan, Nur B. Ali
19/ Malaysia, Alex Yoong
20/ Ireland, Richard Lyons
21/ Lebanon, Alexander Khateeb
22/ SIngapore, Christian Murchison
Feature Race Results
1/ Germany, Nico Hülkenberg
2/ France, Loïc Duval
3/ New Zealand, Jonny Reid
4/ Switzerland, Sébastien Buemi
5/ Netherlands, Jeroen Bleekemolen
6/ Canada, James Hinchcliffe
7/ India, Narain Karthikeyan
8/ Italy, Enrico Toccacelo
9/ China, Ho-Pin Tung
10/ USA, Ryan Hunter-Reay
11/ Malaysia, Alex Yoong
12/ Czech, Republic Tomáš Enge
13/ Australia, Karl Reindler
14/ Brazil, Raphael Matos
15/ Singapore, Christian Murchison
16/ South Africa, Alan van der Merwe
17/ Lebanon, Alexander Khateeb
18/ Pakistan, Nur B. Ali
19/ Ireland, Richard Lyons
20/ Mexico, Salvador Duran
21/ Great Britain, Robbie Kerr
22/ Indonesia, Ananda Mikola
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