Nico Hulkenberg will join the Sauber team for the 2025 Formula One season – a year before they begin their transformation into the factory Audi team in the 2026 season.
The 36-year-old German becomes the first driver to sign for Audi, which is believed to be targeting Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. as their top driver for their debut season.
Hulkenberg will depart the Haas team, where he currently drives alongside Dane Kevin Magnussen, and is expected to be replaced by the young upstart Brit, Oliver Bearman, who races in Formula 2 but impressed at this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he substituted for Sainz, Jr. who was undergoing an operation for appendicitis.
Hulkenberg made his debut in F1 in 2010 and has 208 career starts – but no podium finishes – with his best driver’s championship finish coming in 2018 for Renault, when he finished the season in seventh place overall.