Nico Hulkenbe♐rg may have signed his latest contract “too early”, before his red-hot form caught t🎐he eye, it has been claimed.

Hulkenberg has remarkably scored more pointsꦕ in the past two F1 grands prix, ꦜfor Haas, than Sergio Perez has scored in the past six grands prix in the dominant Red Bull.

The veteran driver has signed on for Sauber next year, and will fron🦩t the project that will evolve into Audi under ღthe new regulations in 2026.

But Tom Clarkson said on the F1 Nation podcast: “As brilliant as it is for Hulkenberg that he has signed a long-term deal, I think he has signed too ꦡearly.”

Natalie Pinkham said: “Hindsigh﷽t is a wonderful thing. He had to secure his future꧅.

“There was a stage🅘 where he was working on German TV. We thought his F1 career was done.

“He’s back now, pu♋mping out P6s in a Haas, beating Ferrari!

“It’s crazy. He’s an e🦂xceptional driver. And, for me, one of the most underrated driv♎ers.

“He should have been on the podium by now.”

Hulkenberg has finished sixth at Silverstone in Au꧟stria, the past two 🃏grands prix, a remarkable achievement given he is driving a Haas.

Hulkenberg has bullishly claimed that Haas can overtak🎃e Aston Martin as the fifth-fastest team in F1.

“The perform🍃ance i✃s there with this update,” he said at Silverstone.

“And that makes me very happy and optimistic looking into the remainder of 🐲the season.

“I think we’re definitely in the fight now for the fifth-fastest team, which is 🦹obviously very positive, and nobody really expected [that] a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah, very encouraging and very positive.”