Nico Hülkenberg

Nico Hülkenberg carried for over a decade the least wanted record in the sport: the most Grands Prix started without ever reaching the podium. The number grew race by race until it became a running joke he came to take in good humour, and which hid what it really said: that he had spent his whole career in the middle of the grid.

His earlier CV did not point that way. He won GP2 at the first attempt and in his debut Formula 1 season, in a Williams that was not the best car, he took pole in Brazil in the rain. Then came Force India, Sauber, Renault and Haas, teams where his job was to squeeze points out of cars that had no more to give, and where his consistency made him one of the most respected drivers in the paddock without results on paper to back it up.

His best championship was seventh in 2018. With more than 250 starts and fifteen seasons spread across sixteen years, including a comeback after two years away, he remains the clearest example that a final classification measures the car before it measures the driver.