Nico Hulkenberg in Talks to Secure his 2020 Formula One Future

Nico Hulkenberg is eager to remain in Formula One and he is exercising all his options for the future. After being dropped by Renault for the 2020 season, the German driver has been on the hunt for a vacant seat.

Initially, Haas F1 was an option, until they elected to retain Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. Now, he has confirmed that he has in touch with Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur. This means that he could potentially partner Kimi Raikkonen for the 2020 season.

Speaking to Russia’s Sportbox, Nico Hulkenberg said, “It was about various factors, and their performance this year was one of them.”

As mentioned before, Kimi Raikkonen has been contracted with Alfa for the 2020 season. However, Hulkenberg will have competition from current driver Antonio Giovinazzi. As it turns out, the Italian is backed by Ferrari and his performance has been on the up in 2019.

What works in Hulkenberg’s favour is that he knows team boss Vasseur on a personal level.

Speaking about his friendship with Hulkenberg in Singapore, Vasseur said “There is no one who knows him better than me. He was champion in Formula 3 and Formula 2 on my team, so I brought him to Renault in 2017 as well.”

Now, Hulkenberg has said that the covers will be lifted on his 2020 plans ‘within a couple of weeks’.

“You can never know for sure, but now is the time of the year when the deadlines are coming,” he said. “Let’s see what happens.”

On his talks with Vasseur, he said, “Of course I did. I’m known him for many, many years and we are friends. Of course we talked.”

It was also worth noting that is a 2020 seat does not open, it isn’t guaranteed that he will return to Formula 1 in 2021.

“It’s impossible to answer that question,” he said. “It is possible that if I find myself outside of Formula 1, I won’t want to come back.”