Esteban Gutierrez admits ‘very strong’ F1 driver should have won so many more races

Follow us on Google Discover

Mercedes development driver Esteban Gutierrez has suggested that Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg should have won plenty of races during his Formula 1 career.

Gutierrez was speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast about the German driver.

Nico Hulkenberg celebrated his 200^th start in Formula 1 in Mexico City and had an eventful race.

He missed out on featuring in Q3 by a tenth of a second but once again out-qualified teammate Kevin Magnussen, which has been a running theme throughout the season.

Hulkenberg then spent much of the restart after his teammate’s huge crash fending off the Alpines who were desperate to break into the points.

The German was sitting in tenth place and using the Haas’s superior straight-line speed to protect his single point going into Turn 1.

However, his tyres eventually gave way and Esteban Ocon snatched tenth place off him before Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda charged past him too.

Haas are now bottom of the Constructors’ Championship and don’t look likely to score many points in the final three weekends of the season.

However, his old teammate Esteban Gutierrez has insisted that Hulkenberg should have won a few races during his career.

Instead, he holds a record that no driver would like when it comes to finishing in the top three.

Gutierrez says Hulkenberg should have won more races

The Mexican’s first teammate in F1 was Hulkenberg at Sauber in 2013 and the pair raced together that season before the German moved to Force India and was replaced by Adrian Sutil.

Speaking about the 36-year-old, Gutierrez said: “He has already had a couple of situations like that.

“We also know Nico [Hulkenberg] is a very strong driver, he’s really competitive.

“He’s very good at maximising the performance in many areas. I think Nico he has this strong energy and he puts that into the car and into the races that he does and he’s really persistent.

“He doesn’t give up and just goes for it and has no second thoughts on anything.

‘He’s really consistent, he’s very solid, he’s a driver that should have already been on the podium many times and probably won many races. I don’t know what didn’t work out there, maybe we will see a podium!”

Hulkenberg has admitted that his Haas hasn’t delivered in plenty of races this season and Gutierrez admits he should be racing at the front of the grid.

The 36-year-old has the Formula 1 record for most races taken part in without finishing in the top three.

He’s got a pole position to his name and two fastest laps but has never stepped foot on the podium.

It’s going to take something extraordinary for him to do that while driving for Haas.

However, his teammate did record an unforgettable pole position in Sao Paulo last year.