Christian Horner refused to comment when asked if Red Bull should’ve signed Nico Hulkenberg after the Sauber driver shrugged off his unwanted podium record with a P3 at the British Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg went into the British Grand Prix having not reached the podium in 238 attempts. Number 239 put an end to that.
Does Christian Horner regret not signing Nico Hulkenberg?
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Hulkenberg lined up 19th in a rain-affected grand prix, but as the race unfolded, inspired pit stops from Sauber saw the German leap up the order to run fourth, behind Lance Stroll and ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Hulkenberg overtook Stroll, who was struggling on his tyres, but with Hamilton also through on the Aston Martin driver, the pressure was on to stay ahead of the nine-time British Grand Prix winner.
As the laps counted down, Hulkenberg was able to build a gap to the Ferrari driver and took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of Hamilton to record his breakthrough F1 podium.
The German’s performance at Silverstone was in sharp contrast to that of Yuki Tsunoda, as despite starting eight places ahead of Hulkenberg, the Red Bull driver finished down in 15th place and one lap down on the race-winning McLarens.
“Yuki’s race,” Horner began as he spoke with the media, including PlanetF1.com, “unfortunately, he picked up a 10-second penalty, which I thought was quite, quite harsh, but it is what it is. Because for me, that was kind of a racing incident.
“His problems were the same as Max’s in the damp conditions. And when you’re running in dirty air, it makes it incredibly difficult.
“I think in normal dry conditions, he would have scored points today, but we didn’t have a normal race.
“And so… I have to congratulate Nico Hulkenberg, though, after all these years of trying to get a podium. Today, it’s good to see him get a podium.”
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Asked if he should’ve signed Hulkenberg when he had the opportunity back in 2020, Horner sidestepped the question.
“Look, I was very pleased for him to get the podium,” he simply said.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko revealed earlier this year that Red Bull were close to signing Hulkenberg for the F1 2021 season, but instead went with Sergio Perez.
Having signed and dropped Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, the Milton Keynes team was in talks with Hulkenberg but decided to go with Perez after his maiden victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix swung the odds in his favour.
Marko told Sky Deutschland: “Maybe it’s a good thing that he [Hulkenberg] didn’t get the seat next to Max anyway.
“He was in discussions. Then Perez won the race in Bahrain, which was just in the decision-making phase and then tipped the scales.”
“I have to say, he did very well after his unexpected comeback,” he added.
Verstappen was one of the first to congratulate Hulkenberg on his podium result as he headed over to the Sauber driver as he climbed out of his car.
“Yeah, amazing!” the four-time World Champion told Viaplay. “That’s the positive thing of the day! I am so happy for him that he got the podium, yeah, so nice to see.”
Hulkenberg and Verstappen are good friends, the German sometimes flying with the Dutchman to races.
“Max was the first guy when I got out of the car,” he said. “We go way back from karting days.
“I think we have a lot of respect. I have huge respect for him, what he does, what he stands for. A great human being.”
Hulkenberg, though, will not be joining Red Bull any time soon having signed a multi-year deal with Sauber that will see him remain with the F1 team as it is rebranded Audi in F1 2026.
The British GP podium and his 15 points means Hulkenberg has risen to ninth in the Drivers’ Championship, while Sauber have climbed three places to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
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