Haas team principal Guenther Steiner praises ‘fantastic’ Aston Martin for Nico Hulkenberg gesture

Guenther Steiner praised the “fantastic” Aston Martin team for allowing Nico Hulkenberg to link up with the Haas team early.

Hulkenberg has been given a contract by the American side to replace Mick Schumacher next year, with the German unable to convince them that he should be retained for another season.

It is not clear if he will be able to find a seat of his own for 2023, in a season that has seen plenty of changes between teams.

Sebastian Vettel is retiring, Fernando Alonso is moving to Aston Martin as his replacement, and Daniel Ricciardo looks like he may choose to become the reserve driver for one of Mercedes or Red Bull after McLaren cancelled his contract a season early.

With teams already looking to next season after the drivers’ and constructors’ championships were settled long before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, there is an impatience to get testing ahead of the 2023 campaign, with Mercedes looking strong as they head towards the end of the season.

However Haas have occasionally impressed in the current campaign and bringing the experienced 35-year-old German Hulkenberg gives them a potentially capable line-up.

That will in part depend on getting him into the car for testing as soon as possible with any new changes for the upcoming season, and speaking to Sky Sports, Steiner praised his Aston Martin peer Mike Krack for allowing Hulkenberg to switch sides early.

“Thanks to Aston Martin who were very generous, he can drive to test on Tuesday. We are doing a seat on Sunday with him,” he began.

“They were very good with us, and I thank Mike, because it was fantastic they offered that one up.

“That is the best thing to do. He gets in the car and looks at a lot of data, the simulator, but you guys know driving is the only thing to do.”