Nico Hulkenberg has been working with Ferrari between races to prepare himself for racing for Haas after he spent two years on the side-lines as Aston Martin’s reserve driver.
The German driver has yet to score points since his return to the sport but has shown pace, qualifying in 10th place in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen.
“That’s why we took him,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said.
“There are 10 good teams there. Now, they’re all working on a very similar budget, they have got all good drivers, they’re all solid financially, they’re all solid technically…things like a driver will make a difference, just to get the best out immediately.”
In a bid to get himself back into the points, Hulkenberg has been spending hours in Ferrari’s simulator, as part of the team’s technical partnership with Haas, to get more familiar with the car’s design.
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“It’s more of a benefit I think, because he [Hulkenberg] was out of a car and it’s a completely new car for him,” Steiner told reporters.
“It’s very interesting to do some sim sessions to prepare better for race weekends.”
Steiner has been complimentary of his new driver, who replaced fellow German Mick Schumacher for the 2023 season, describing Hulkenberg as motivate in sim sessions to get to a place where he can be competitive.
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“We’re doing how much we think is needed. At the moment we do a little bit more to calculate with what happened in Bahrain, to see if the simulator has got a good correlation or not,” Steiner stated.
“I always think that with the simulator, as long as the driver is interested you should do it and if the driver loses interest then there is no point. But at the moment, Nico is very motivated to do it,” he continued.
Hulkenberg holds the ignominious record of the most Formula 1 starts without a podium finish. Across 183 stars, the German has only managed to secure 1 pole position and 2 fastest laps.