After being poached by the German car manufacturer Audi last Friday, 36-year-old Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg has revealed more details about his switch to Sauber/Audi following the end of the current season.
The final move between the two parties was the subject of conversation in the past season, and the German could have signed for the Sauber for the 2024 season.
The departing Haas driver has contributed its decision to a long-standing partnership with Audi’s CEO Andreas Seidl.
“He [Andreas Seidl] is the driving factor there. One of the deciders, one of the top key people in the management at Audi. Of course it came through him.”
The pair between two of them was a part of the winning Porsche’s squad for the 2015 24 hours of LeMans.
At that time, Seidl was the team principal of Porsche’s LMP1 ultra-successful project.
Hülkenberg also recalled his first stint in the Swiss outfit for the 2013 Formula 1 campaign.
“With the team everything was fine. It was only with one person that it was difficult. And that was the team principal, Monisha [Kaltenborn] at the time.”
The German driver also noted a great comparison between Sauber’s 2013 project and the current one that Audi is set to take over in 2026.
“Every team I worked with and raced for, I never had problems with the team, with the mechanics, with the engineers, I’ve always enjoyed working with all the team members and working as a force, as a team pushing for performance.”
“So obviously now that’s quite different from back then”. – Hülkenberg stated.