It might just be that 2015 will go down as the year of naysaying – Formula One’s too quiet, it’s too expensive, and it’s too slow.
Juan Pablo Montoya even got some airtime to put forward his views on the sport, and that they were logical and reasonable rocked Formula One’s psyche to the core.
But cutting through the conjecture, shining like a beacon of hope in this dim sporting world, is the Hulk(enberg), who proved Formula One is still worth fighting for when he re-signed with Force India for two years this week.
Common sense, WEC be thy name, be damned! Nico Hülkenberg will not be shackled by our expectations. Despite his prospects of racing for a top Formula One team shrinking to near zero – by virtue of bad timing rather than any lack of talent, mind you – Formula One is exactly where he has chosen to remain.
What can we make of this situation? Hülkenberg, since the moment he set foot in the paddock, has been held in the highest regard as a racing talent – first as an aspiring talent, presently as an underrated talent, and now a talent hurtling towards being unfulfilled.
It seems a strange idea that we might one day utter his name in the same sentence as Nick Heidfeld or Heikki Kovalainen, yet here we are.
Perhaps the truth of the matter is that the German has been overrated. His time at the top level has been characterised by his first season at Williams in 2010, which culminated in a phenomenal pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix on a drying track. It impressed pundits and punters alike and it surely contributed to Hülkenberg being one of the few drivers to re-enter the sport after losing his seat for a season, but the pressure that moment placed upon his career may be more than it could yield.
This might explain why Ferrari, which subsequently had its interest piqued in the new sensation, declined to take the next step after feasting on his racing data in 2013, virtue of him racing for the Ferrari-powered Sauber team. Something didn’t sit right with the Scuderia, and it instead signed Kimi Räikkönen in 2014. Uh, right.
But Hülkenberg’s Le Mans victory proves that there is truth in his rated reputation. Sure, a World Endurance Championship victory is far more collaborative than a Formula One win, but by that same token an eight-hour contribution to the victorious car is still a whole lot more seat time than one gets in a Formula One Grand Prix – and winning on debut alongside LMP1 fly-ins Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber looks mighty on a business card.
So if WEC has embraced him after Formula One’s inexplicable rejection, what’s the hold up? Porsche was sufficiently impressed with Hülkenberg’s efforts that it welcomed him into the family fold – indeed future Le Mans appearances are on the cards – but why not a long-term formal deal?
In the World Endurance Championship, Nico Hülkenberg could be the star he has always been billed to be. The WEC, just like Formula One, is an FIA World Championship series. It has the prestige and it has the respect, yet Hülkenberg is consigning himself to the upsetting reality that he could walk away from Formula One winless while history will always record that Pastor Maldonado, his usurper at Williams after a single season, was able to take a scarcely believable victory.
Could it be that, despite complaints to the contrary from Formula One drivers and WEC drivers (well, Mark Webber, at very least) alike that Formula One racing has become unfulfilling, this sport still has something to give?
Is the lure of world motorsport’s most glamorous category still too great to resist, even if you’re consigned to the midfield with slim prospects of making the big time?
Hülkenberg’s given the sport a genuine boost. He’s been to the other side and tasted the greener grass, but back he’s come to join the sport that has forsaken him so.
Maybe there’s not so much wrong with Formula One after all.
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