Hulkenberg Believes He Wasn’t Chosen For Top F1 Team Because Of His Height

Posted on August 19, 2023 | by Charley Williams If you think you are too tall or too small, we’ve all had comments made regarding our height at some point in our lives – but we doubt it’s ever affected job applications. Well, for Nico Hulkenberg, it has. He believes he lost out on a 2014 Ferrari seat because he was too tall.  Hulkenberg was expected to be the next best thing to come into Formula 1 after a glimmering junior career. Whilst now very experienced, he holds the record for the most race stars without ever standing on the podium. 193 races, with a best career finish of fourth – though, there have been a few near misses. But despite his F1 career never really kicking off as expected, he thinks his lack of silverware isn’t why he has yet to make it into a top team. In 2019, Hulkenberg admitted on the F1 Podcast, “There was some discussion, and I think there was a real possibility” in signing for Ferrari, who were considering him for the 2014 seat to replace Felipe Massa. As we know, a returning Kimi Raikkonen snapped that up instead. Hulkenberg, who is 6ft tall, says his height “definitely hasn’t helped” and is a probable factor in missing out on chances to race for the top teams. He told The Race: “I’ve never had an answer where [teams] said, ‘Sorry, no – we turned you down because you’re too tall. Probably they wouldn’t tell me straight to my face. “But I’m pretty sure that it has, yeah, hindered the odd opportunity and occasion to jump to a top car. Packaging issues, less space, more weight, which is not the right way around in this business.” Hulkenberg stands 20cm taller than Massa, the driver he was out to replace, and only 4cm taller than Kimi Raikkonen – who got the seat. Did no one ever tell them that size doesn’t matter? ????