Whilst “suck my balls” will no doubt be the most memorable moment of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg’s seasons, the pair have nonetheless settled in admirably to their new teams in 2017.
Nico and Kevin have tacitly become Formula 1’s habitual nomads, eternally switching teams, never with much prospect of long-term career stability, never clicking with that essential inner-circle of personnel and always searching for the next opportunity.
However in 2017, Nico and Kevin appear to have been rejuvenated by new teams and new challenges, and attained a rather unfamiliar sense of stillness and equilibrium within their new environments.
Unlike Hulkenberg, the entirety of Magnussen’s Grand Prix career has been in doubt. Parachuted into McLaren on the back of an emphatic Formula Renault 3.5 title (a campaign in which he was pitted against the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne and Antonio Felix da Costa) as the team’s first rookie conscript since Lewis Hamilton, the expectations were high. However whilst the Dane did not embarrass himself, he did not excel either.
Once shoehorned out of McLaren in favour of the incoming Alonso, his career spent eighteen months on a tightrope: sacked from his McLaren reserve role on his birthday, given an eleventh hour reprieve by Renault, frustrated by an uncompetitive R.S.16 and undermined by an Enstone squad openly courting other drivers.
For the past two years frustration and alienation have predominantly characterised the undoubtedly capable Dane’s career, and as a result has had to fight his corner with a smaller number of positive results to show than he would have liked.
The widely held gut belief that Kevin was a worthy F1 driver never really had the results to back it up, and paddock whispers of a poor work ethic rather fitted with the turbulence of Magnussen’s F1 progression.
However with Haas, Kevin has found an extremely quick reference point in team-mate Romain Grosjean, and a smaller, more tightly-knit squad than McLaren or Renault. And the results have come: P8 ahead of both Force India’s and team-mate Grosjean in just his second race with Haas in China, and an assured P7 whilst briefly running in the podium positions in Azerbaijan are among the best results of Magnussen’s season.
Perhaps most encouragingly, Magnussen has not been destabilised by a VF-17 sporadically capable of blistering speed, but more commonly hampered by the team’s perpetual braking and handling woes.
Certainly versus his famously vociferous and extrovert team-mate, Magnussen’s ability to maintain a level focus in a season that has featured some peaks and troughs has been admirable. Well, admirable beyond a certain Hungarian paddock fracas…
The other half of that particular altercation has arguably had a similarly frustrating F1 career to date, albeit for very different reasons. Unlike Kevin, stellar performances have never been far away for Hulkenberg: be it a pole for Williams in the drizzle of Interlagos, be it the Brazilian Force India win that wasn’t, or be it a combative P4 for Sauber in Korea.
No, unlike Magnussen, the great frustration of Nico’s career is surely a contract, a contact with his signature but without that of a certain scarlet juggernaut. Naturally, Nico would consider himself vindicated by the consistently disappointing form in Kimi Raikkonen’s second stint at Ferrari.
That said, Nico cannot exactly be proud of his last three seasons with Force India: commonly outperformed by a team-mate with a middling paddock reputation, showings from the driver who had looked a champion in waiting in 2012 and 2013 were few and far between.
However in accepting the Renault advance that ex-team-mate Perez rejected, Hulkenberg has at last found a challenge befitting of his abilities. One and a half seasons in to its manufacturer backed effort, Renault is a squad that is clearly demonstrating its upward potential, and in Hulkenberg, they clearly have a driver with broad enough shoulders to lead that project.
A brace of P6s and a consistent supply of mega qualifying laps (not least an inspired lap in Bahrain to go less than two tenths slower than the Red Bull of Verstappen) versus a points tally of zero for the embattled Jolyon Palmer, is indicative of Nico’s central role in the team.
Freed of the incessant battle for supremacy with Perez at Force India, Hulkenberg can add his name to an illustrious list of drivers who have clicked with the personable Enstone outfit.
Stylistically, it could also be suggested that Nico has been reinvigorated by the new generation of F1 cars in 2017, arguably having never fully gelled with the initial iterations of hybrid cars.
At this stage it is almost certain that Nico will have a new team-mate for 2018: be it a miraculous return for Robert Kubica, a well-deserved debut for Oliver Rowland, a fresh challenge for Carlos Sainz or even a career salvage operation for Fernando Alonso. It is unlikely anyone could phase a vividly reenergised Hulk.
Until now, the story of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen’s careers has largely been one of unfulfilled potential and regretful disruption.
However in 2017, with new squads and the fresh challenge of a developmental project with all the hallmarks of upward momentum, both of F1’s habitual nomads have attained a formerly elusive steady footing both within their teams and the sport.
They may not have endeared themselves to each other during the race in Hungary, but both could not fail to reflect on the current trajectory of their careers with renewed optimism.
