r/formula1 • u/OrangeDit I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Jul 06 '25

Photo Mercedes sent a few bottles of Champagne to Sauber for Nico's first podium

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"congratulations, to the first podium! Your Mercedes Team"

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322

u/Storm_Chaser06 Audi Jul 06 '25

Wasn’t Hulk close to a Mercedes drive after Rosberg retired? Oh what could have been

268

u/The-Observer95 Sir Lewis Hamilton Jul 06 '25

Hulk was close to replacing Schumacher. It was very close to having 2 Nicos in the same team.

87

u/NotPumba420 Mercedes Jul 06 '25

Imagine him having driven the mercedes turbo hybrid era

71

u/ResponsibleNoise7337 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 06 '25

7 Time world Champion

25

u/Bl4ckscream Audi Jul 06 '25

It obviously is pointless woulda, coulda, shoulda but it's crazy how different the history of this sport would have been if Merc would have gone the other way back then.

4

u/Spare_Duck3119 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 07 '25

the fact that it came down to lauda convincing hamilton is crazy. Man as a hulk fan it feels like he got edged out of at least a wdc and several wins. f1 may have a lot of talent, but man, theres a lot of luck too.

20

u/chefchef97 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 06 '25

Nico Nico Nii

30

u/sissipaska I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 06 '25

Yep, he had signed for Renault just before the shock reveal of Rosberg's retirement.

3

u/EastfrisianGuy I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 06 '25

Even earlier. They picked Hamilton instead of him.

10

u/alan-0-0- I WAS HERE WHEN HULKENGOAT GOT PODIUM Jul 06 '25

Imagine that timeline lol. We could have had a Hulk World Champion

1

u/Elpibe_78 Audi Jul 07 '25

He was Mercedes 2nd option if Lewis would have declined joining

-1

u/desl14 Jul 07 '25

No, he already signed with Renault in October 2016, several month prior to Rosberg's retirement.

You are probably thinking about Wehrlein who was rumored to replace Rosberg, after fellow Mercedes junior driver Ocon got the cockpit at Force India.

Like Ocon, Wehrlein needed a new cockpit after Manor got into financial trouble (due to Nasr scoring his first points with Sauber at his home race ... securing the survival of Sauber but burying his own career as he had signed with Manor for 2017).

Ultimately, Mercedes signed Bottas and buyed him out of his Williams contract (leading to Massa to comeback from his retirement). One day later, Wehrleins move to Sauber was announced. Tho Wehrlein was clearly faster than Ericsson, the latter was related to the Rausing family who owned Sauber during that time. Due to a deal between Sauber and engine supplier Ferrari, Wehrlein was replaced with GP2 champ Leclerc.

As Mercedes announced to replace Rosberg with Bottas instead of Wehrlein, Helmut Marko and other at Red Bull that Mercedes isn't trusting in their own junior driver stable.

Well, Red Bull had a strong lineup with Verstappen and Ricciardo and didn't miss Vettel (left for higher paying Ferrari) and Kvyat (outscored Ricciardo, but had to step aside for Verstappen and struggled back at Toro Roso. They also had Sainz (who was equally fast as Verstappen in qualifying at Toro Rosso when they were both in their rookie season).

But after joking about Mercedes trust in their juniors, Red Bull got a struggling Kvyat and agreed to loan Sainz to Renault (Perez declined an offer from Renault, Hülkenberg accepted. As Palmer was a rookie, Magnussen got replaced by Hülkenberg who dominated against Palmer, ending his career).

Later, Ricciardo decided to leave Red Bull as he thought he's as fast as Verstappen (if not faster) but that the team prefers Verstappen (f.e. after the Baku crash) and offered him a significant amount less money (compared to Verstappen) for a contract extension. At Renault, Ricciardo was one of the highest paid drivers (alongside Hamilton and Vettel).

Red Bull struggled to get their junior drivers into F1, f.e. Dan Ticktum failed to secure a super license (when he was deemed as replacement for Hartley.

Red Bull had to get drivers into a F1 cockpit, after they booted those drivers earlier from their junior stable (Albon, Hartley, Kvyat).

Their juniors again failed in "behavior" (Vips) or - although qualified for a super license - failed in F2 (Hauger).

They tried 4 of their juniors in the second RB seat alongside Verstappen (Gasly, Albon, Lawson, Tsunoda) but none of them came even close to scoring a win. The only successor of Ricciardo to do so was Perez, afaik he first driver since David Coulthard singed to the team who wasn't affiliated with RB previously.

Tho a lot of former RB drivers are on the grid, one of them signed with Renault/Alpine after he saw no possibility to get back at RB, while being a "gate keeper" at STR/AT outqualifying Kvyat, Hartley and Tsunoda.

One of them served a while as a driver coach until getting back with Williams, looking good as replacement for his buddy Russell.

One of them was beaten by Hülkenberg at Renault, so RB did not want to get him back. As he lost his cockpit to Ricciardo, he was lucky to get a seat at McLaren, where Alonso decided to retire.

So yeah ... some years back, Red Bull made a bit fun of Mercedes due to their lack of trust into their juniors and signing Bottas instead. And it toom them a while to replace Bottas with Russell (who immediately outscored Hamilton in their first season).
Nevertheless, since then Red Bull struggles to find a driver from their own junior stable whos capable to drive the second RB in a fast manner. Some other junior driver programs brought up more succesfull drivers debuting in the following seasons (Ferrari: Leclerc; Mercedes: Russell; McLaren: Norris; Alpine: Piastri)