Nico Hulkenberg stands ready to return to Formula 1 if given the chance as his fellow drivers bemoan his pending exit from the grid.
The German lost his seat at Renault to Esteban Ocon for 2020 and after Haas, Alfa Romeo and Red Bull made their decisions, that only leaves Williams with a free seat but that’s an option he has already ruled out.
As a result, the upcoming finale in Abu Dhabi is set to be the 177th and last F1 start in a career spanning nine seasons, but Hulkenberg isn’t approaching it as a final farewell.
“No regrets,” he told reporters in Brazil. “Of course I’ve done mistakes as we all do sometimes that I would have liked to avoid, a few moves or things I’d do differently now, but that’s always easy to say with hindsight.
“So all-in-all, I’m at peace with what I’ve achieved and I don’t feel I’m retiring as a race driver.
“I don’t feel I am leaving F1, I might not be on the grid, but if there’s an opportunity I’m going to be ready.”
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His final Renault teammate Daniel Ricciardo agrees, suggesting that, while he is at the veteran end of the scale at the grand age of 32, Hulkenberg still has good years in him yet.
“He’s cool,” the Aussie told Formula1.com. “I certainly think he still has time in the sport if he wants it.
“His ability is certainly there to do it, but I do not fear for him if he doesn’t come back to F1.
“He’s a pretty switched on kid, he’s quite business savvy so if he goes on to do other things he’ll be okay.”
Coming a year after F1 lost another of its big talents in Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel believes Hulkenberg’s departure is another example of how the sport needs fixing.
“It’s really strange because I have known Nico for a long time, we race against us since we were kid,” he told Formula Passion.
“The fact that a driver like Hulkenberg is without a seat for next year is bitter, this shows that something in this F1 is not working properly.
“I hope he will come back very soon. He has the potential to be a here and I don’t want to be the only German driver in F1 too long.”
As for what comes next for Hulkenberg, an option to potentially drive the road course events in IndyCar closed this week and Nico admits he isn’t in a rush to commit elsewhere.
“I haven’t signed anything and I won’t do for the foreseeable future,” he claimed. “I received calls from different, let’s say racing series, teams, but nothing is really happening at the moment.
“To be honest, my state of mind is quite relaxed.
“I will finish the season anyway and I want to be as successful as possible and then after that, I want to rewind a little, take a moment for myself or two or three, and see what I want to do, what seems of interest.
“I’m certainly not having the feeling that I want to rush into something, just to race, so I am pretty relaxed,” he added.
“I feel a decade of F1 is intense, living at that high-pace, so that’s why I just need to see when the new year starts, how I feel and how things develop and evolve and in which direction.
“Honestly, at the moment, I just don’t know.”