Second F1 comeback at Eifel GP "even crazier than last time" - Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg revealed he was having a coffee with a friend when he received the phone call from Racing Point that he would be needed to replace Lance Stroll for this weekend’s Formula 1 Eifel Grand Prix.

Stroll was unable to take part in FP3 after the team confirmed the Canadian had been suffering from an illness.

This is the second time Hulkenberg has been called up last minute after he was drafted in place of Sergio Perez, who contracted coronavirus at the British Grand Prix.

“It was even crazier and wilder than last time,” Hulkenberg said. “I was in Cologne, about an hour from here. I was due to come here this afternoon anyways, I was going to do some TV stuff with RTL tomorrow.

“I sat with a friend at 11am for a coffee when I seen that Otmar is ringing me. He says ‘Hulkenberg hurry, we need you here’. I stepped in the car, came here and the rest is history. We saw what happened now. 2.0 return in the moment of a heartbeat.”

The German admits the car did feel quite a bit different than it did at Silverstone but was content with his performance in qualifying at the Nurburgring despite qualifying last.

“It felt quite different to Silverstone, completely different circuit, the car has moved on too,” Hulkenberg added. “There’s a couple of technical bits that are very different that give the driver different sensations, so I had to adjust around that a bit and just find my feet again.

“Obviously in four laps, that’s not so easy. All in all, even though I’m last I’m quite pleased with the laps we produced just now.”

Looking to Sunday’s race, with a lack of running this weekend, Hulkenberg expects it will be a difficult challenge.

“Still means that tomorrow is going to be very difficult and a hell of a challenge,” Hulkenberg concluded. “We’ll do what we can. Obviously I have the experience, the four laps in the pocket now. They’ll sink in, so tomorrow we’ll just go racing and see what we get.”