Leading Renault not Hulkenberg's priority

Nico Hulkenberg insists he does not see himself as Renault's team leader in 2017, despite being far more experienced than teammate Jolyon Palmer.

Having started his career at Williams in 2010, Hulkenberg has also raced for a year at Sauber in between four seasons at Force India. While he still had a year to run on his Force India contract, the German opted to move to Renault for 2017 having been identified by the French manufacturer as a more experienced driver it could build its team around following its return to Formula 1 as a constructor just one year ago.

Hulkenberg will be paired with Palmer this season, with the Briton having shown steady progress during his rookie F1 campaign last year. Despite having made 115 grand prix starts compared to just 20 for his younger teammate, Hulkenberg doesn't believe a team leader role really exists.

"To be honest that's not so important," Hulkenberg told RACER. "I think that's something that gets emphasized by the media, to lead the team. What does it mean, to lead the team? You want to be in front, you want to beat your teammate. If you lead or not, it doesn't matter."

Acknowledging it may take a while for Renault to return to winning ways having been uncompetitive in 2016, Hulkenberg says his only focus is to ensure he is still in place to reap the rewards once the team is able to challenge at the front again.

"It's more important for me to help the team, to bring it forward, to develop it and then later on to develop for me. That also means I have to beat my teammate whoever that will be, both this year and beyond. But I'm not too fussed about the leader thing – I'm going to do my job and whoever is next to me is not really that important to me."

Renault is currently scheduled to be the second team to unveil its 2017 car, with the Enstone outfit due to launch on February 21, one day after Sauber's new car breaks cover.