F1 News
Nico Hulkenberg thinking of taking a year out of racing!
Nico Hulkenberg says that he is not against the option of taking a year out of racing altogether as he is set to miss out on an F1 seat in 2020. Esteban Ocon is joining the Renault team next season, leaving Hulkenberg in without a drive for the first time since 2011.
The German has never quite lived up to his high potential, racing in the midfield his entire career for Williams, Force India, Sauber and Renault, and he has slowly seen his options for 2020 dwindle, with Haas retaining Kevin Mangussen and Romain Grosjean, leaving the only possible seat at Williams, one Hulkenberg is not willing to take.
He told Sky Sports' Martin Brundle that he won't be taking on a test driver role, insted preferring to sit out of racing completely for a year.
He said: "To go and do that (be a test driver), when you're young and at the beginning, and I did that in 2011, I think that's the right and obvious thing to do.
"To do that when more advanced in the career, it's kind of a hard one to take when you've raced so many years consecutively. That role, I'm not sure about.
"[2020] will be a true test for me, because all my life has been about racing and now not to have that will be quite a shock and quite a contrast."