The antagonists in the battle for the title: profile features of René Rast and Nico Müller
Showdown at Hockenheim: duel for the 2020 DTM title to be decided on the season’s home straight
Title, theses, temperaments: thriller for the big trophy turns into a question about strengths, character, and mentality
A clever mind, an eloquent appearance, a relaxed racer: Nico Müller is not just a great example of a sportsman, PR managers appreciate him, too. But every now and then, the Swiss also shows some rough edges. For instance when he vents his frustration about the antics of his fellow Audi drivers over the radio. Or when he just raises his middle finger as a sign of respect, tongue firmly in cheek. Anyone merely judging Müller by his smart outside appearance doesn’t get the full picture. A portrait of a modern motorsport star.
Loud? Only in exceptional cases
Müller comes across as rather quiet. Normally, he is not somebody to speak up loudly. But he certainly can, as his tantrum on the radio during the Sunday race of the second Zolder revealed. When his fellow Audi driver Jamie Green was giving him a hard time at the track, Müller vented his anger about the Brit’s driving antics in an unmistakable way. “With Nico, that doesn’t happen often, but when he is unhappy about something, he will say so,” Thomas Biermaier knows. He is the team principal of the Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, for which Müller has been racing in the DTM since 2016.
Especially since moving from the Rosberg squad to the Abt team, Müller’s form curve in the series has been going upward. Biermaier: “What Nico needs is a quiet, solid environment in which he feels comfortable and that allows him to deliver his best performance. And that is what he has been finding with us for years.” His first-ever race with the Bavarian team saw Müller score his maiden podium finish in the DTM and it didn’t take long for his maiden victory to arrive. Last year, he was in contention for the title until the penultimate race meeting. This season, he was one of the three drivers to dominate proceedings in the DTM.
Analysis: also learning from mistakes
Still, not even for Müller, things are always running like the proverbial Swiss clockwork: in July 2019, there was an unfortunate collision with fellow Audi driver René Rast on the opening lap of the Sunday race at the Norisring. “That was stupid from me,” Müller honestly admitted. At the Nürburgring, he also had a difficult weekend in 2019 in which his remaining title hopes were blown: a jump start on Saturday, a messed-up qualifying on Sunday. “But then, too, he will sit down, he will analyse and try to learn from it,” his team principal knows.
Analysing, an important element. And a discipline that Müller is particularly good at, as his Abt teammate Robin Frijns confirms from his own observations: “He is spending a lot of time in front of the computer whereas I am never able to look at all these curves and graphics for more than one hour.” Meanwhile, Frijns and Müller have become friends, they even went on summer holiday together last year. They already know each other from time spent together in single-seater racing: “But there, we never really got to talk to each other. That changed when we were racing together with Audi in GTs for the first time,” Frijns says. “He has a really dry sense of humour, he probably got that a little bit from me. It takes a while, but once you get to know him, you can really have fun with him!”
The battle for the DTM crown: between frustration and the grand prize
Frijns describes Müller as “very correct, always very accurate. That probably is something typically Swiss, I would say. He also remains very calm and collected, almost always, hardly ever freaking out, even though he would have a reason sometimes. In that respect, he is different from me. The situation on the radio at Zolder was probably an exception, that was rather uncharacteristic.” Perhaps, a certain frustration was playing a role there, too, as both race weekends at Zolder were rather difficult for Müller. “Everything is running against us,” he said into the microphone of TV station SAT.1.
Nevertheless, second place in the race on Sunday of the second weekend at Zolder was a positive outcome after all and Müller kept his title hopes alive as he is heading to Hockenheim for the season finale. Whatever the outcome of the battle for the DTM crown will be: he already has a grand prize. In August, right in time after the second Lausitzring DTM weekend, Müller and his long-standing partner Victoria became the proud parents of a son named Fynn. “An indescribable joy,” Müller said after the birth. Some people say that a kid is making a race driver go slower. For Müller, that is certainly not true, as his on-track performance shows.
After the strongest DTM season in his career to date, Nico Müller has good chances of winning the title going into the finale at the Hockenheimring. Should he manage to seal the crown, it would make him the first Swiss champion in the popular race series. With currently nine race wins, the Audi works driver almost is the most successful Swiss already. Only Edoardo Mortara has one victory more to his tally. In case Müller wins once at Hockenheim, he would pull level with the Italo-Franco-Swiss.
» In brief – Nico Müller
Born 25 February 1992 in Thun (SUI)
Residence Bern (SUI)
Family single, partner Victoria, son Fynn
Hobbies racing bike, mountain bike, skiing
Career highlights
2004–2007 Karting
2008–2009 Formula Renault 2.0, Swiss champion Meister 2009
2010–2011 GP3: 3rd 2010, 4th 2011
2012–2013 Formula Renault 3.5: 9th 2012, 5th 2013
2014–to date DTM with Audi, 2nd 2019, 9 race wins to date
2019–2020 Formula E
Three questions to … Nico Müller
After a very strong season, you were particularly struggling at Zolder. Still, your form curve eventually showed an upward trend again with second place. How do you plan to continue this trend for Hockenheim?
Nico Müller: “In the first two thirds of the season, the performance was very good. We were very strong on all weekends and we have won races. At the Nürburgring, our run then was interrupted a bit, initially with the technical issue on the first weekend and then when I was tapped into a spin. At Zolder, we were lacking performance in qualifying for the first time. When you are starting further down the grid, something can go wrong more easily. Even though the performance was still good enough to finish on the podium, there was the odd setback. René Rast made perfect use of it and scored many points. On the other hand, we showed that we can still make the best out of it, even when things are difficult. The Sunday race of the second Zolder weekend is a very good example: we weren’t in a position to win, but we got the maximum out of it. For Hockenheim, I am very confident. That is a track that we know well. I am feeling really well there and I think we are perfectly prepared. Last year, I won the season finale, I claimed my first-ever pole position in the DTM there. I know that we can do it. We will focus on our strengths and, as a team, we will be giving it our all to ensure that we can close the points’ gap. We will attack to the max and hopefully will still be able to decide the battle in our favour.”
Last year, you were also still in contention for the title for a long time. What will your approach for the finale be like this time?
Nico Müller: “Back then, the battle was decided at the Nürburgring, where we had a rather mediocre weekend. I was second in the standings coming to Hockenheim where I still managed to secure runner-up spot. Compared to that, I am in a much better situation this year. Our chances are more than just realistic. Admittedly, the gap is considerable, but we have also seen quite often that such gaps were closed and the person who was the hunter eventually emerged as the lucky winner. Now, we are the hunter and we will do our utmost to make up these 19 points.”
Like in 2019, René Rast is your fiercest rival in the battle for the title. Which are his strengths and weaknesses from your perspective?
Nico Müller: “Among René’s strengths, and this year in particular, certainly is his ability to still get the maximum even out of a situation in which he isn’t in contention for victory. Especially this season, during which we as the three title candidates were dominating for a large part, he therefore still always was in a position to finish on the podium, to score many points, and to remain in contention for the title. And when things were going well for him, he also managed to maximise the potential. His weakness, especially this season, probably was the tyre management. In that respect, we clearly were a step better.”