Nico Hulkenberg
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At the age of 20, new recruit Nico Hülkenberg completes the driver triumvirate for the 2008 season. Following an in-car, simulator and written assessment with the team around last December’s Jerez test, the young German from Emmerich, located on the banks of the Rhine, was appointed as the team’s official test driver.
Although ostensibly young for such a responsible role, Nico has been racing for over a decade, having made his karting debut in 1997, at the age of 10. By 2002, he was German Junior Karting Champion and the following year, he won the German Kart Championship, a well-trodden route to motorsport’s glittering prizes as drivers such as Michael Schumacher had amply demonstrated before him.
The parallels with Schumacher’s progression to Formula One were underlined when Nico was identified by Germany’s most prominent and successful driver manager, Willi Weber, who took the young protégé under his wing.
By 2005, Nico made one of the critical steps in a nascent racing career by moving from karting to single seater racing. He made his debut in German Formula BMW and dominated the championship, claiming the title comfortably with eight pole positions and nine wins from a mere twenty starts, matching the achievements of his team-mate and namesake, Nico Rosberg.
In the past three seasons, therefore, Nico has contested the German Formula BMW Championship, German F3, A1 GP and the Formula Three Euroseries. From the 68 starts he has made in these various championships, he has claimed 25 race wins and 14 poles, and besides winning the Formula BMW ADAC title, he has helped the German national team to its A1 GP title in 2006/7 as a series rookie.
Nico has also performed strongly in a number of non-championship races including winning the Ultimate Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder. In 2008, he will again contest the Formula 3 Euroseries alongside his Formula One testing duties with the AT&T Williams team. With a consistency that has seen success in every category of racing he has contested to date, there is little doubt that his testing duties for the team will serve as a useful apprenticeship for a talent that is destined for Formula One.
Nico Hulkenberg At A Glance
Date of Birth: 19 August 1987
Place of Birth: Emmerich, Germany
Nationality: German
Place of Residence: Germany
Status: Single
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 70kg
Website: www.nico-huelkenberg.de
Career Highlights:
2007 Winner, Formula 3 Masters at Zolder, Formula 3 Euroseries, 4 wins, 2 poles, 3rd in Championship
2006 A1 GP Team Germany, series champions, 20 races, 9 wins
2005 Formula BMW ADAC Champion, 20 races, 9 wins, 8 poles, BMW World Final, Bahrain, 3rd
2001 – 2004 Karting with CRG Netherland, DKM German Champion, Italian Junior Champion, German Junior Champion
