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Nico Hulkenberg admits that the physical challenge of his return to F1 at post-season testing was " tough ". The German will return to the grid in 2023 with Haas, having last raced full-time in the sport for the Renault team back in 2019, though he has since made substitute appearances in 2020 and 2021 for drivers forced to miss races due to COVID-19. Ahead of his comeback, Hulkenberg got behind the wheel in Abu Dhabi for a test held just two days after the 2022 season finale. He ended the day with 110 laps under his belt, and claimed the 19th fastest time on the timesheets of the 24 drivers to have taken part. Hulkenberg achieved 'target' in test Hulkenberg was left feeling positive after his experience at testing. "Good days of work, good days of running," the 35-year-old told media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "[We] collected many impressions, a...

Sebastian Vettel has been reflecting on the emotional "toll" that his years with Ferrari took on him. The four-time World Champion joined the Scuderia for the 2015 season and won in just his second race with the squad, before finishing the campaign P3 in the World Championship. Vettel went on to pose title challenges in the years that followed but ultimately fell short. He was replaced at the team by Carlos Sainz for 2021, with his exit being announced before the COVID-delayed 2020 F1 season had even got underway. Despite some ups and downs during his time at Ferrari , Vettel has happy memories from much of it. "I had a lot of fun," he told the Beyond The Grid podcast. "I think I have a very strong emotional connection to Italy and the people of Italy and to Ferrari as a brand, so it was a privilege to race for Ferrari. "We had great moments together, so lots of memories that I will keep forever and lots of friends that I made." ...

Sebastian Vettel admits that he felt he could see his younger self reflected in former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc . The four-time World Champion raced alongside several drivers during his F1 career, having shared a garage with the likes of Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. It was in 2019 that Vettel was first partnered by Leclerc at the Scuderia, with the youngster joining the team in only his second year in Formula 1 . This occurred during a period of time in which Vettel admits that he had already started to have some thoughts about his life away from the sport, given the difficulties faced by Ferrari. "In '17, we had a great car, and we fell short," Vettel told the Beyond The Grid podcast. "[In] '18, we had a great car, [but] we fell short again, at the end. Just both years, we didn't keep the development pace up, and we just fell back, so we got beaten. "'19 was a bit of an odd year, because the start o...

Toto Wolff believes Mercedes' Formula 1 problems were so ingrained in 2022 that the budget cap had no impact over the poor performance. Despite entering the season as the eight-time consecutive world champions, Mercedes stumbled with their W13 design - suffering a magnitude of problems. Originally the team believed the aerodynamic porpoising was the key factor behind its slow start to the season, but soon uncovered a fundamental design flaw with the car, believed to relate to the floor which could not be fixed in-season. As a result, the team continued to try and make best of the W13, with George Russell claiming his first, and Mercedes ' only win of the season in Brazil while Lewis Hamilton went winless for the first time ever in his F1 career. In years gone by, teams would have been able to throw as much money as required at the problem to rectify it during the season, but owing to the $140 million budget cap in place, this was not possible. However, Wolff beli...