Nico Hulkenberg will be part of the Sauber group for the 2025 season earlier than their transformation into the manufacturing facility Audi group in 2026.
The 36-year-old German is the primary driver to signal for Audi as they construct as much as their debut season in Method 1. Their different prime goal is Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Andreas Seidl, chief government officer of Sauber and the Audi F1 undertaking, stated: “Together with his pace, expertise and dedication to teamwork, Nico might be an essential a part of the transformation of our group.”
Hulkenberg, who beforehand labored with Seidl when he received Le Mans for Porsche in 2015, stated: “The prospect of competing for Audi is one thing very particular.
“When a German producer enters F1 with such dedication, it’s a distinctive alternative. To symbolize the manufacturing facility group of such a automobile model with an influence unit made in Germany is a superb honour for me.”
Hulkenberg’s determination leaves a emptiness on the United States-based Haas group, the place he at present drives alongside Dane Kevin Magnussen.
A number one candidate for that seat in 2025 is Briton Oliver Bearman, who races in Method 2 and impressed at this 12 months’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he substituted for Sainz, who was present process an operation for appendicitis.
Bearman is a member of the Ferrari driver academy and the Italian group, who’ve shut hyperlinks with Haas, are eager for him to maneuver up into F1 subsequent season.
Hulkenberg made his debut in F1 in 2010 and has raced for the Williams, Power India, Sauber and Renault groups.
He was dropped by Renault on the finish of 2019 and did a handful of substitute appearances from 2020-22 for the Racing Level/Aston Martin group earlier than returning to F1 full-time with Haas for 2023.
