Motor racing-Hulkenberg rids himself of unwanted record at the 239th attempt
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) -Nico Hulkenberg provided Formula One's feel-good story of the day, and possibly the season, at the British Grand Prix and nobody was more surprised and delighted than the 37-year-old German.
After 15 years, and at the 239th attempt, the Sauber driver finally shrugged off the unwanted record of the most race starts without ever standing on the podium -- and replaced it with the most starts until a first podium.
"I don't think I can comprehend what we've just done," he said over the team radio after taking third place.
Hulkenberg did it in fairytale fashion, following a script that even the producers of the recently-released Brad Pitt blockbuster F1 movie would probably have rejected as too implausible.
He started last on the grid, in 19th place with Alpine's Franco Colapinto lining up in the pitlane, for Swiss-based Sauber.
Thanks to clever strategy and pitting at absolutely the right time, Hulkenberg took Sauber to their first podium in 13 years and also became the team's all-time lowest-starting top-three finisher.
"It feels good. It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?," said Hulkenberg, rather stating the obvious, after tumultuous pitlane celebrations.
"I always knew we have it in us, I had it in me somewhere... it's pretty surreal, to be honest. Not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy conditions, mixed conditions. It was a survival fight for a lot of the race.
"I think we just were really on it. The right calls, the right tyres, at the right moment. Made no mistakes and, yeah, quite incredible."
With nine-times British GP winner Lewis Hamilton in fourth place for Ferrari, it had seemed inevitable that Hulkenberg would be reeled in and his day would end yet again as a story of what might have been.
Instead it became a tale of triumph against the odds for a future works Audi team on the up and now riding high in sixth place overall.
"I think I was in denial until probably the last pit stop, you know, and then when I heard we gapped Lewis quite a bit with the one extra lap, I was like, 'Okay, this is good, this is some breathing space'," said Hulkenberg.
"It was an intense race but like I said, we didn't crack. No mistakes. And obviously really, really happy with that."
Team boss Jonathan Wheatley, an F1 veteran who joined from Red Bull this season, piled on the superlatives.
"I think he was almost in a state of shock when I saw him under the podium," he said.
"Nico drove an outstanding race today. One of the best I've seen at Silverstone and one of the best I've seen of any driver ever.
"I've considered him to be an extraordinary talent for a very long time... I think he showed today what he's capable of. The monkey's off his back."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)
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