Haas has yet to get on top of its 2023 car's severe tyre woes, which have left the American-owned team unable to replicate its often-reasonable qualifying pace over a whole race stint.
The Ferrari customer squad particularly struggles on hot and twisty circuits where Pirelli's tyres are tested the most, with its disastrous performance in the Italian Grand Prix another new low.
Hulkenberg and team-mate Kevin Magnussen were the only drivers to be lapped as they finished a distant 17th and 18th, with Hulkenberg lamenting "everyone was just driving through us, and we were not in the race".
While Haas has been trialling solutions to mitigate its tyre overheating issues, it has yet to uncover a fix and paid the price in the constructors' championship.
It shared seventh place with Williams before the start of the second part of the season, but since then Alex Albon nearly doubled the points tally for its resurgent rivals, while Haas hasn't scored points since Austria.
PLUS: How Monza shows Albon's transformation to fearsome F1 battler
Haas facies a 10-point gap to Williams while Alfa Romeo has closed to within a point, with Hulkenberg admitting Haas won't be able to keep up with the former.
"To be honest, Williams, they look like they're gone," he conceded.
"They and McLaren obviously made huge progress this year. And I don't see how we can turn this around unless we find something really magic.
Source: Autosport