Nico Hulkenberg finished third in the British grand prix at Silverstone this weekend. That may not sound like much, if you don’t follow F1, but it concludes a bizarre 239 race odyssey to bag an elusive first podium.

We’ve watched every race he’s been in since 2010, with the 37-year-old a long-term journeyman in Formula 1 always brilliant. But never quite in the right car.

Well, we want to celebrate this third place as it ends a ridiculous record and is a thoroughly well deserved result for the ever-likeable German.

Third Place: Nico Hulkenberg Joins the Podium Ranks

The race at Silverstone was an epic, stricken with rain and so treacherous even Max Verstappen was caught out on several occasions. Whilst running in second, the reigning champion spun off (having been off once before) and slithered home in fifth.

Further down the field, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (considered by many to be the fastest driver in F1) had a total disaster of a race and was off the track more than on it.

The two dominant McLarens were way out front, but Verstappen and Leclerc’s issues left third spot open for an unusual finisher—usually so difficult to achieve for less competitive teams.

To be fair on Leclerc, the Ferrari is apparently disastrous to drive in wet conditions. That’ll explain why his teammate, seven times world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, was also unable to catch and pass Nico Hulkenberg for third.

Hulkenberg started 19th after a difficult qualifying session in his midfield Sauber (Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber) car. In a safety car, accident strewn race he kept his cool, put his 15 years of F1 experience to great use, and kept everything on the island. He was bloody fast, too, and it was an assured run to grab third spot and fend off Hamilton’s Ferrari.

The conditions in the race yesterday were stunningly difficult, frightening, and where one tiny error would end your race.

But as simple as that, Hulkenberg steered through it in an uncompetitive car to claim third. It looked easy and, up on there for his first podium, he was handed the specially designed LEGO trophy he said his daughter Noemi would love.

Then, later, footage of his daughter watching the result emerged on social media with her jumping up and down.

This sort of stuff is F1 at its best, a feelgood story with an uplifting result for the very popular Hulkenberg.

Why it Took 239 Races for Hulkenberg to Bag a Podium

Finally, he has that stupid record off his back—the question that’s plagued his career.

“Does it bother you that you don’t have a podium finish?”

That is something he’s been asked countless times by journalists. And, no more! But it is ridiculous, almost cruel, that it’s taken this long to achieve a podium. As he has been very close before, but bad luck or some sort of error (his or his team’s) got in the way.

Journalist Edd Straw wrote a great piece about this on The Race in Hulkenberg’s podium ends a terrible F1 injustice.

“That Hulkenberg hadn’t bagged a podium before now was largely about happenstance. Often in the wrong place at the wrong time, the occasional flirtation with Ferrari never yielded a top drive and he’s spent most of his career fighting for minor points – 90 times finishing between seventh and 11th.

It wasn’t the career he looked destined for when he arrived in F1 in 2010 with Williams, touted by many, including me, as a future world champion, but it’s been a remarkable one.”

The podium seem destined to never happen. Like he was cursed.

We think of his prior career highlights—he joined Williams in 2010 and in a midfield car had a good debut season, even bagging a pole position in Brazil. But that year became a marker for the rest of his time in F1—lots of midfield drives, never quite getting a better car.

We don’t think Hulkenberg is championship winning material, but on his day he’s up with the best and that’s what’s kept him in F1 for an entire generation. Cool, calm, and collected, he doesn’t lose his head and is always assured and level-headed.

But the podium didn’t happen. There are three races that are notorious in his racing canon, the nearly moments that seemed to bog down his career:

1. Brazil 2012: After qualifying seventh, Hulkenberg came through in his midfield Force India and promptly led most of the race. He was actually way out front for much of the race, beating much better cars in wet conditions, and probably would have won. BUT! He made an error on lap 54 and clobbered Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren during the fight for the win. The Hulk eventually finished fifth.
2. Korea 2013: After qualifying eight for Sauber, he drove an amazing race and led for much of it. Possibly his best ever drive, he eventually had to settle for fourth after the superior Red Bull and Lotus drivers surged ahead.
3. Germany 2019: Again in tricky conditions, with drivers spinning off everywhere, Hulkenberg found himself in a certain 2nd spot. Agonisingly, he made an error and went into the barriers.

That agonising moment in Brazil 2012 is possibly what changed the court of his career. It was a slight error, but he spun and whacked Hamilton whilst battling for the win. It was clumsy and, arguably, put off top team bosses from picking him up for a top seat. Despite his heroics that day in the midfield Force India.

There were other close calls, too, such as one year at Monaco when third place was his. But a Force India strategy call handed that place to teammate Sergio Perez.

Perez and Hulkenberg eventually were the two choices Red Bull had to make for a 2021 season drive. Perez eventually won out and bagged five wins and many, many podium results across his time with the team.

Mr. Hulkenberg has always been a bit unlucky like that, but finally it came true.

The podium is there and to do it with such accomplished style and grace, whilst almost everyone else during the race lost it, crashed, spun, or did something stupid. Well done that man.