Hülkenberg out of British GP before start

Nico Hülkenberg's Formula 1 return ended in disaster as the German driver failed to even make it out of the Racing Point garage ahead of the British Grand Prix.

Hülkenberg had stepped in for this weekend as replacement for Sergio Perez, who had tested positive for Covid-19, and performed admirably in the RP20 after an eighth-month lay-off from F1 following his release from Renault at the end last year.

The 32-year-old was due to start from 13th on the grid for the race at Silverstone, but due to what has simply been described initially as "an issue" by the team, he remained in the garage as the rest of the field took to the grid.

CONFIRMED: @HulkHulkenberg will not take the start of the #BritishGP after an issue was discovered with his car leaving the garage to head to the grid. ?

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— BWT Racing Point F1 Team (@RacingPointF1) August 2, 2020

Although his race crew worked frantically on finding a fix, Hülkenberg was ultimately forced to climb out of the cockpit, and out of the race as it would not fire up correctly.

It is understood Hülkenberg will be given a second opportunity with Racing Point for next weekend's 70th Anniversary GP with Perez quarantined for 10 days.