Nico Hulkenberg thinks people underestimate ‘very good’ 27-year-old Formula 1 driver

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Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg has been very impressed with Alpine rival Pierre Gasly and thinks plenty of people underestimate the Frenchman.

All eyes were on Pierre Gasly when he decided to switch AlphaTauri for Alpine last winter.

Speaking to Motorsport-Magazin, Nico Hulkenberg believes he’s made the right call and immediately shown his quality with the French team.

It turned out to be a disappointing year for Alpine after falling behind McLaren and Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship.

They ended up competing against themselves for much of last season, with the top five teams consistently faster than them, and the bottom four teams some way off them.

It meant that they were only ever competing for minor points, although both drivers managed to squeeze onto the podium once in 2023.

Hulkenberg believes that Gasly’s performance at Alpine shows just how quick he was.

He named him as one of his top three drivers from last season alongside world champion Max Verstappen and the legendary Fernando Alonso.

For the 27-year-old to be above the likes of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in his thinking shows just how highly he thinks of him.

Hulkenberg lauds Alpine driver Gasly

Asked if Gasly bribed him to include him in his top three drivers, Hulkenberg said: “With Pierre [Gasly] you underestimate the fact that he has had a team change and is at a very good level straight away.

“Most drivers, and I speak from experience, need time to get everything running smoothly with the car and the team.

“That usually takes time and he was at Esteban’s [Ocon] level straight away and often even ahead of it in qualifying. I see this as a strong performance.

Asked if people underestimate how difficult it is to switch teams, Hulkenberg continued: “You see everything from the outside, but you can’t judge it very well from the outside because it’s a feeling.

“As a journalist, you can’t understand how different it is and how different the dynamics are because you’re not in the car.

“These are all processes that take time until you have really adjusted completely and adapted your driving style.

“Especially now without testing and with the very limited driving times on a race weekend, this is usually something that takes a long time. And I think he did it very, very quickly and very well.”

Hulkenberg’s praise for Gasly is well deserved even if he was let down by an average Alpine car for much of the year.

Eddie Jordan believes the Frenchman is a ‘real talent’ and it’ll be interesting to see how long he spends with Renault’s successor should they fail to kick on as a team.

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft shared some worrying news about their car ahead of the 2024 season and the last thing they need is to lose more ground on their rivals over the winter.