In 2015, Nico Hülkenberg did a great deal to give effect to a 24 Hours of Le Mans already full of prestige thanks to his participation and subsequent victory with the official team Porsche.
The boom in the world of the resistance that has taken place in recent years has meant that many pilots of renown would like to participate and the German pilot did it the best way possible. But with the arrival of the Great Prix of Europe, both the FIA, as Bernie Ecclestone wanted to complicate things to their ‘rivals’ of the resistance and dated the race of Baku on the same weekend.
There ended the hopes of Nico Hülkenberg to defend title and, now that it belongs to an official mark as Renault, it is even more complicated, especially with a race calendar that is increasingly widespread. “it’s Not going to happen, not in the next few years. I still would like to do it someday, in 2015, the calendar was a little more relaxed, you have to make sure to be able to do two things. I can always go back a little later”, recognized Húlkenberg about the possibility of returning to Le Mans in a statement picked up by Racer.
In that same interview, Hülkenberg recognizes that one of the secrets of the Force India has been to simplify the complex activity of the Formula 1 teams and advises Renault to take the same path. “What is simple is good, very often. Some big teams have too many resources and are sometimes lost in the complexity of the sport and engineering. At Force India I think we were good at keeping the simplicity by focusing on the important things. So we ran pretty well and with success”, said the German.
Hülkenberg, the appropriate choice
So says his boss, Cyril Abiteboul, who denies that several pilots refused to Renault before that Nico Hülkenberg. Some of the riders most prestigious of the grill, as Carlos Sainz or Sergio Perez claimed to have rejected an offer from the French team, but Abiteboul says it isn’t true. “There is something that has been misinterpreted, in my opinion, and that is that some pilots have secured offers from Renault. I guarantee that none refused any of our offers. I would say that the opposite is true. Some representatives claimed that they were free to negotiate with us when it was not the case,”, I say the head of Renault in statements to Motorsport.
Abiteboul said that he wanted to “to be clear about this, because the people says that the project of Renault is not attractive enough, that there is no ambition and that there is also no economic resources. It is not true. Honestly, we’ve had a lot of interest, and Nico was among the best options, so we are happy that you are with us”, words that contradict what has been said by some pilots and by the same Abiteboul few months ago.
“Hülkenberg has the ability to become a great ambassador for Renault”
In an attempt to strengthen the position of Nico Hülkenberg as a pilot franchise of the team, Abiteboul has spared no praise, commenting that “it is tremendously exciting because it is the type of character that we wanted to have. We have the opportunity to have someone very experienced, who along with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, has been at that level in the categories of training, but is not associated with another brand of car or another big team. People say it has a low profile, but for us it is a opportunity great because a pilot is not just a pilot”. Abiteboul expects the German pilot end up being associated the brand to the level of other pilots on the roster have been with other formations, a sign that the association will be operated as expected. “we Believe that we have a great pilot with Nico, but it also has the ability to become a great ambassador for Renault, and to forge a great partnership, like Lewis and Mercedes. Even today I think that a lot of people keep associating Vettel with Red Bull. I hope that in a couple of years, if we are successful together, people associate Nico with Renault. But before anything we have to do the work”.
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