Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

Hulkenberg paired with Vettel at Race of Champions

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Nico Hulkenberg will make his debut at the Race of Champions (ROC) this year, joining Sebastian Vettel to form Team Germany.

The 2015 Le Mans 24 Hour winner is effectively replacing Michael Schumacher, who was Vettel's partner for Team Germany as they won six consecutive Nations Cup titles from 2007 onwards. Hulkenberg describes it as "a huge honour" to be Schumacher's replacement, and says he's looking forward to teaming up with Vettel.

“I’ve had a very good year so far and I’m very excited to be making my Race Of Champions debut," Hulkenberg said. "I’ve always wanted to take part but it never worked out so now I’m really happy to be a part of it and looking forward to it.

"I’m obviously stepping into big shoes to replace Michael Schumacher, which is a huge honour as well. I feel very happy and positive about that and it will be fun to team up with Seb and race and fight for Team Germany.

“The ROC track is very narrow and tight, a bit like racing on a street circuit. But it’s still quick and dynamic and entertaining to watch. There’s going to be quite a bit of car-hopping, adapting and adjusting from one machine to another. They’re all quite different so I don’t really know what to expect. But I guess I’ll get dumped into the cold water and then I’ll have to figure out how to swim…”

This year's Race of Champions takes place in London's Olympic Stadium across November 20-21.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.