Nico Hülkenberg’s future in Formula 1 is still unconfirmed – At Spa it became known that Esteban Ocon will take over the cockpit of the German at Renault.
Since then he has been strongly associated with a place at Haas, but the man from Emmerich in Germany cannot yet report anything concrete: “There are talks, but it will take a while,” he says on Thursday in Monza.
Hülkenberg doesn’t want to rush into anything: “It has to be the right deal, there has to be a good sporting perspective. I’m not in a hurry just to sign something,” stresses the German. At the moment there are options, but nothing to talk about.
Haas team boss Günther Steiner recently confirmed that Hülkenberg is one of the candidates for the American team alongside Romain Grosjean. Until then, he still has a few races to show what he can do. The truth is, Hülkenberg also knows that he wasn’t beyond all doubt in this respect (missed podium in Germany anyone?) – otherwise he might not have lost his seat.
So far, he has given himself eight out of ten points for 2019. “It wasn’t the best season and I missed a few opportunities,” he says consciously. Above all, the accident at Hockenheim could have overturned the barrel by throwing away another good starting position.
In Spa last weekend he was lucky with the late retirements of Lando Norris and Antonio Giovinazzi and was able to gain two positions. “Luck balances out over the year. Sometimes it’s on your side, sometimes not,” he says. But he doesn’t believe that he needs to know this on his side in order to get the cockpit in 2020.
“I don’t think it has to change for me to get a place. I just have to do my job, focus on it and get what I can do. Then everything will be fine,” he says.
Monza is on the agenda this weekend, where Hülkenberg hopes for a good result again. Renault was able to catch up at Spa on McLaren and wants to do the same again at Monza. “We’ll see how the car performs, but there’s no reason for skepticism,” says the German.
“We’re just working hard and I just want to get the most out of it every weekend.
