Hulkenberg: I feel fresh, positive and hungry

The German knows a thing or two about sabbaticals having begun his F1 career at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, he sat out 2019, returned in 2020 for a year and remained on the sidelines, as super sub until the opportunity arose this year to return after fortuitous series of events that to led to the call from Haas.

The team wanted an experienced driver to replace Mick Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo was too expensive and hardly a hot prospect, thus Hulkenberg's availability made it a decent match for the American team. The stars had aligned again for the respected driver.

Furthermore, The Hulk returns with an upwardly mobile outfit in Haas, despite being led by team principal Guenther Steiner, they found good form in recent seasons, helping Kevin Magnussen also resurrect his career but, these days, the Dane is being demolished in qualy 3-0 by his new teammate.

And that's a good place to be for Nico as points last time out in Australia testified.

Speaking to Motorsport-Total, in the wake of finishing seventh in Melbourne, Hulkenberg reflected: "I take a lot of positives from this weekend for the future. I feel like a lot of good things are happening. I feel fresh, positive and hungry. We have a very good rhythm and momentum and we want to keep that and take it into the next races."

From just wanting to be on the F1 grid, 'comeback king' Hulkenberg is now hungry for more points: "It was only my third race after a three-year break. It's crazy and interesting how people get used to it and quickly become spoiled.

"I've now been in Q3 twice and eleventh once, Kevin got a point in Jeddah and I was in the points now too. If you look at it from the outside, it's not a bad start to the season," ventured Hulkenberg.

It's his first full season with this generation of F1 car, most of his rivals, barring this year's rookies, have 20 races head start, but Hulkenberg says the cars are coming to him now: "Of course, the learning curve is steep for the team at the beginning of the season, but also for me. So I'm delighted and confident that more good things lie ahead.

"I felt good from the start but we're only into race three, so the connection between me and the car needs to grow, I can feel it's getting better and better and that's nice."

Significantly Hulkenberg returns to an F1 grid of 20 cars that are closer than ever, so much so that there is a gap to pace-setting one or two, but thereafter there is just a midfield separated by less than a second, with no real backmarkers as we've had in previous years. F1 in 2023 is very, very close.

Hülkenberg, who is in the meat of that pack, acknowledged: “You have the four or five teams in front, and then the remaining five teams in the midfield, backmarkers don't really exist anymore.

"We're all in a bubble within a few tenths of a second, so a small mistake can have a huge impact. But the other way around, you can also find yourself in the top 10 if things go well. It's fun," added the German, ahead of his 185th Grand Prix start when he lines up on the grid in Baku, at the end of the month.