Alfa Romeo and Haas, the two teams most linked to signing Nico Hulkenberg for 2021, are keeping their cards close to their chest.
The German driver reminded Formula 1 of his ability as he deputised for Sergio Perez at Silverstone, qualifying third for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
That achievement immediately led to claims, from Max Verstappen and Ross Brawn most notably, that Hulkenberg should still be a full-time driver in F1, and he did confirm some initial chats with teams over a return.
The one team he is most strongly linked to is Alfa Romeo replacing Kimi Raikkonen, who is expected to retire after 2020, and the main reason for that is Nico’s strong connection with team boss Fred Vasseur.
However, asked about the possibility on a recent Beyond the Grid F1 podcast, the Frenchman was non-commital.
“Honestly it’s a bit too early for us,” Vasseur said. “I need to discuss the point with my shareholders and to know what Kimi wants to do and I don’t want to disturb the team so far. It would be the worst kind of scenario to try to have those discussions today.
“We first have to recover [our performance] because I want to be attractive to drivers, and I’m not sure we can convince someone to join when we are struggling.”
The Alfa chief though did confirm how highly he rates Hulkenberg, who turns 33 on Wednesday.
“The perception of the paddock to Nico is wrong I think,” Vasseur said. “I think he is one of the most talented guys on the grid. [The perception of the paddock is] not so high, but I think they are wrong.
“I know him very well. He raced for me for two or three seasons in a row. When you are winning it is always easy, when you have a season where you start with poles, wins, you are champion quite easy – okay, you did the job.
“But when you start the season at the back with issues and you are able to step-by-step recover, to keep the team motivated, to keep the guys pushing in the same direction and sometimes to even be stronger than your boss when he was a bit desperate, I think this guy is a real leader and Nico did the job.”
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The other option is Haas, where both their drivers could be under threat of being axed for 2021, however, after being snubbed by Hulkenberg last year, team boss Guenther Steiner doubts he’d be interested now.
“We are currently not performing very highly, that’s why you have to look at it from his side as to whether he would believe in it and if it would suit him,” he said.
“He is a very good driver and from a certain level, you don’t want to be in a team that can’t even be in midfield.”
