Sauber deny “any fundamental issue” with Nico Hulkenberg after poor run since F1 podium

Sauber team principal Jonathan Wheatley has denied there being any “fundamental issue” with Nico Hulkenberg, following his poor run of form.

Hulkenberg finally scored his maiden F1 podium at the British Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton to third.

This was part of an impressive four-race scoring streak.

Hulkenberg finished fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix, overtaking Hamilton after the Safety Car and benefitting from fresh rubber.

He finished eighth in Canada and then ninth in Austria, before his podium at Silverstone.

Since then, Hulkenberg hasn’t scored a single point.

Rookie F1 teammate Gabriel Bortoleto has enjoyed the upper hand.

Bortoleto has out-qualified Hulkenberg in the last five consecutive races.

He has also done so in 10 of the last 12 Grands Prix, evidence that the momentum is in the Brazilian’s favour.

Hulkenberg endured another difficult weekend in Azerbaijan, clattering the barriers in qualifying.

Wheatley has downplayed any concerns over Hulkenberg’s recent form.

“It’s a question that I’m being asked more and more often now. I personally don’t feel there’s any fundamental issue here,” Wheatley said after the race in Baku.

“Nico is a tremendous, experienced and fast racing driver and many, many times he’s been out-qualified by a thousandth, a hundredth. It’s not always a big thing. I honestly think it’s just transient. Gabriel’s fast as well, and if one of them gets the lap right, one of them is going to out-qualify the other.

“Gabriel has certainly been at a run of circuits where he’s more familiar with. With Nico, I don’t think there’s anything big to get over. He’ll just string it together.”

Will Hulkenberg turn things around?

Unlike his impressive two years at Haas, qualifying appears to be the German’s weakness.

Bortoleto leads the qualifying head-to-head 11-6 with seven rounds remaining.

Hulkenberg conceded that his Azerbaijan GP was severely compromised by another disappointing Saturday.

“It was one of those races where things just didn’t fall into place,” Hulkenberg reflected.

“I always seemed to be on the wrong side of the timing, losing out here and there. The highlight was definitely the restart - I managed a nice double overtake into Turn 3, which was rewarding. But after that, I was stuck behind Franco [Colapinto] and Lance [Stroll] for most of the first stint. We lost a lot of time there, and that was really the make-or-break moment.

“The pace at the end was good, but by then the race had already slipped away from us - qualifying and the early laps left us with too much to recover. There weren’t many variables or opportunities to shake up the order today. It wasn’t our strongest weekend, but we’ll take the lessons on board and focus on executing better next time out.”