Nico Hulkenberg stranded on Shutter Island
The German driver for Williams, Nico Hulkenberg confirmed that since the team announced that they will be signing Pastor Maldonado, the current GP2 champion for the 2011 Formula 1 season alongside Rubens Barrichello, he would have to leave the team and begin
hunting for another team before the next Formula 1 season begins.
After surfing and struggling to find another team, Nico Hulkenberg is left with only one solution in order to stay in Formula 1 actively and that is to join a team as a reserve driver. It was recently revealed that all the teams have confirmed their race
drivers’ and it seems that the young talented German is left with no choice now.
According to some reports, Mercedes is willing to sign Nico Hulkenberg as their test driver but Nico stated that he wants to race in Formula 1 and would only drive as a test driver as a last resort in order to stay in the sport. It is disappointing to see
drivers like Nico Hulkenberg struggling to find a racing seat for 2011 since the young German driver was able to score a pole position, which is a big deal for a team like Williams that has been struggling to score top results for over 5 years.
Nico has had an epic statistical record with titles in A1, European F3 and GP2 that is known as the F1 feeder series. Hulkenberg is currently 23 years old and it is quite clear that he has a long way to go.
It is quite disappointing to see a team choose money over talent. There is no doubt that Pastor Maldonado is talented. But giving him a deal over a driver that took pole position in a car that was nowhere near the pace of a Red Bull was extremely amazing.
“There's currently no contact. His car didn't drive itself to pole position in Brazil. A GP2 champion and someone on pole in Formula One must of course be very capable,” said Norbert Haug, Mercedes’ chief while praising his potential.
Nico’s manager Willi Weber believes that his driver will not have problems looking for a good team as a test driver and believes that it would be the best option for him at the moment.
“The third man in a top team is much better than the first man with a back marker. You learn nothing and your career is going backwards with a back marker team,” said Weber.
Even though Norbert ruled out the rumours that his team is in talks with the young German driver, he agreed with Weber and stated that a test driver in one of the top teams is much better than driving for one of the back running teams to achieve nothing.
It seems that Nico Hulkenberg is currently in the middle of Shutter Island. He believes that he knows what he wants, but in reality, he is just a part of a system where a driver has to fight for his rights and play according to the rules of the big fish
in the sport.
Nico Hulkenberg finished in 14th place with 22 points in his debut season this year but after his amazing pole position run at Interlagos, the young German driver proved that he has a lot of potential and if given a good car, he can definitely
create a lot of problems for the top running drivers and hopefully achieve good results.
However, in Formula 1, a driver has to go through a process and prove himself according to the requirements of Formula 1 teams. Nico Hulkenberg has a long way to go in that field.
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