Lando Norris winning his home race (before being injured by a photographer) was a great moment in another epic British Grand Prix.
But amazingly, that was not the most feel-good story from the race as Nico Hulkenberg ended his 239-race-long run without a podium finish to secure third-place at Silverstone, the longest wait of any F1 driver in history.
P3 - YEESSSSS!!! 🤩
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025
NICO HULKENBERG SCORES HIS FIRST F1 PODIUM IN HIS 239TH RACE 👏👏👏#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/rKHNIdIfZL
Many competitors have publicly expressed their enthrallment for the German. World champion Max Verstappen was the first to go over to and congratulate him, teammate Gabriel Bortoleto sounded ecstatic over the team radio and Esteban Ocon offered his appreciation online.
That is the respect that the 37-year-old has earned from his peers, who have been equally perplexed as to why a podium finish had not been forthcoming in the fifteen years beforehand.
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His F1 career before 2025:
When he made his debut for Williams, in 2010, Hulkenberg was touted as a world champion in the making. His immense career in junior formula saw him win a Formula BMW title; the A1 series; Euro Formula 3 and then GP2 as a rookie.
The German then astoundingly took pole position for that year's Brazilian Grand Prix by almost a second. But from there, his progress stuttered.
That is not to say that he drove badly. He was dropped by Williams for 2011; was then quick for Force India (now Aston Martin) in 2012, and was even better for Sauber in 2013; but this hardly matched the trajectory expected for a future world champion.
Then, between 2014 and 2016, Hulkenberg looked every bit as quick as Force India teammate Sergio Perez, but it was the Mexican who would grab at least one podium in each of those seasons.
In 2015, Nico earned success outside of Formula 1 when he won the world's most famous motor race: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Porsche. But Formula 1 was still his main priority, and that elusive podium felt no closer to being achieved.
Three years at Renault (now Alpine) followed, and while he was placed highest of the midfield drivers, in 2018, and secured fourth place in the standings for the constructor, he made way for Esteban Ocon at the end of following season.
Hulkenberg drove for Haas in 2023 and 2024
Then the Covid-hit 2020 season saw Sergio Perez miss two races for the-then Racing Point team and, at Silverstone, Hulkenberg stepped up to replace him. At the second of those races, Hulkenberg qualified a mind-boggling third and was ahead of regular driver Lance Stroll.
Stroll was then ruled out of the year's Eifel Grand Prix, meaning that the now 'super sub' would step into the RP20 on a weekend that he was set to cover the race as a pundit for German television.
With no weekend participation until qualifying Hulkenberg stormed to P8 in the grand prix and reminded everyone, yet again, that he was too good to be left without a full-time seat.
He would not get that full-time seat until he signed for Haas for the 2023 season. But in this era of ground effect regulations, the German has thrived like never before. He had the measure of Danish teammate Kevin Magnussen in both of their years as sparring partners but would depart the team for Sauber, who are set to become Audi for 2026.
Missed Opportunities
Within his storied career at motorsport's elite level, the German had come so close to a top three finish so many times.
He probably should have momentously won the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix but a mid-race safety car wiped out his and Jenson Button's near-minute lead over everyone else, before he crashed into the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton while continuing to vie for the win.
Many also felt that a last chance to score a podium slipped through his fingers at his home race, in 2019, after he was one of many to clip the ominously slippery drag-strip run off on the outside of the Hockenheimring's penultimate corner.
LAP 40/64
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2019
Heartbreak for @HulkHulkenberg as he crashes into the barriers and can't recover 💔
With a first F1 podium in sight, his race is over#F1 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/cS8IybB7sT
His emotional reaction, sat on the side of the track, with his head crashed against his hands was stinging in its dejection.
Other reliability woes, crashes and pure rotten luck helped to prolong his barren run, and it appeared set in stone that he would be the driver with the most races to never finish on the podium.
But such was the efficiency of the German's drive; never running off the track; always timing his pit stops perfectly; and having the calmness to fend off home hero Lewis Hamilton, he quelled the mistakes that have stood in his way in the past.
In the process, he went on to also give Sauber their first top three finish since Kamui Kobayashi took his first and only one at his home race, the Japanese Grand Prix, in 2012.
Links with top teams
What will have likely frustrated F1's newest podium finisher even more would have been the revelations that have come from two of the sport's most successful squads, in recent years.
In 2020, Ross Brawn admitted that his former Mercedes team considered signing Hulkenberg as Michael Schumacher's replacement, for the 2013 season. Of course that seat went to Lewis Hamilton, who would go on to establish the most fruitful driver-team combination in the series' history.
Helmut Marko also claimed that the German had a very plausible chance of driving for Red Bull, in 2021. But Sergio Perez's breakthrough victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix went a long way to him getting the drive.
What it means going forward?
This breakthrough podium can be seen beyond the emotional triumph for the man himself. Sauber become the works Audi team for 2026 and all great brands need a competitor not only representing them, but also marking them as a credible team.
Hulkenberg, a master of Formula 1's midfield drivers, is that and is an asset to however competitive they will be. He has scored 37 of Sauber's 41 points in 2025 and is proving that, even at 37-years-old, he is among the sport's best.
In fact, ex-teammate Carlos Sainz rated him as one of the sport's best five drivers. For a new Audi team that have spent the last decade merely surviving and competing as Sauber, that instantly gives their project more credibility and gravitas.