Hulkenberg holds the record for the most F1 starts (189) without a top-three finish.
Extending his run of strong one-lap performances this season, he qualified fourth for the Red Bull Ring sprint race and then gained a position through Turn 3 when third-starting Lando Norris suffered a loss of traction to trigger anti-stall aboard his McLaren MCL60.
Meanwhile, a slow-launching Max Verstappen had dropped to second place and then struggled to stop the car into the right-hander. This forced both Red Bulls to run wide.
Their lack of momentum out of the corner enabled Hulkenberg to close before the 35-year-old passed Sergio Perez around the outside to take second, which he held until on lap 12.
However, the drying conditions wore his intermediate tyres and Hulkenberg continued to drop before pitting for a set of medium tyres. He eventually finished the race in sixth.
But Hulkenberg reckoned it was inevitable that he would drop back. He said: “I knew that at one point, I'm going to get more heat from behind.
“It wasn't raining. The track was drying up. Probably I can feel it earlier than what you can see on the TV, which direction it's going. I knew it's going to be a tough one to keep there.”
Source: Autosport