Formula 1: Nico Hulkenberg’s future hangs in balance
In the first week of January 2011, a report revealed that the young German driver Nico Hulkenberg is going to be a part of Force India in the season as the third driver of the team.
However, Nico’s well-known management insists that the team is still looking for a better deal than this as they believe they can still secure him a full season driving seat with a good team.
According to the report, the young German will drive for the team at the Friday test sessions in 2011. The report quoted Willi Weber’s statement that Nico was a contender for McLaren’s third seat but that is not possible anymore.
“Martin Whitmarsh was worried that it would be seen as a threat to Button,” said Weber.
Despite these reports, Willi insists that he is still looking for a better option and he believes that Nico stands out from the rest of the drivers on the grid because of his unique driving abilities.
Timo Gans from Hulkenberg’s management team says he cannot give any sort of statement regarding this matter.
“I don't know where it [the Blick story] comes from - probably from Willi Weber because it says Nico Hulkenberg will be test driver. I can only speak for us. We are basically in agreement with Force India, the contract is being drafted but it is not signed,” Gans said.
The two full season drivers for Force India according to that report are going to be Adrian Sutil and the team’s former third driver Paul di Resta.
This clearly meant that the team has got rid of Tonio Liuzzi which does not seem possible since Tonio has a contract with Force India that is expected to expire by the end of 2011.
The only way the team can get rid of Liuzzi is if they buy his contract. According to the 2010 Formula 1 season’s performance, the team should keep Adrian Sutil and either sign Paul di Resta or Nico Hulkenberg.
Nico seems like a better option especially because of the fact that he scored a pole position at a dry Brazilian track. He finished almost a second faster than the top running drivers which is a big achievement since he was driving an average Williams’ car.
Nevertheless, Force India has not issued any comment regarding this matter but it seems that this issue would be resolved in the coming few weeks.
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