Hülkenberg back at Force India in 2014?
While he was expected to be with Lotus or Sauber, it is ultimately with Force India that Nico Hülkenberg could make his comeback.
The uncertainties surrounding Nico Hülkenberg’s future in 2014 could come to an end very soon. The German driver is reportedly about to be officially confirmed as a main driver for Sahara Force India next year, at least according to Roger Benoit, F1 correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Blick.
The one who is – was? – considered Lotus’s best choice for the 2014 season, before the complications between the team owned by Gérard Lopez and Quantum Motorsport, the Gulf investment fund, could thus make his return in white, green, and orange after an initial stint with Vijay Mallya’s team in 2011 as a third driver and in 2012 as a main driver.
The agreement between Force India and Hülkenberg would be valued at €1.9 million according to Roger Benoit, while specifying the demands of the Emmerich am Rhein native: that the arrears from the 2012 season be paid and that he receives an advance on his future salary. This information would therefore rule out the possibility of an additional year with Sauber, which had been proposed by the Swiss team. The German driver’s season with the team led by Monisha Kaltenborn ends with positive results but was marked by difficulties in honoring the driver’s salary.
Eric Boullier had indicated on Monday that while Hülkenberg remained Lotus’s first choice, he couldn’t blame him if he signed elsewhere, and that it would only mean the timing wasn’t right for him or for Lotus. A timing that, according to the current Sauber driver, would have lost all credibility to the agreement between the Enstone team and Quantum Motorsport.
If Nico Hülkenberg returns to Force India in 2014, uncertainty would then linger over the identity of the driver who would be replaced: Paul di Resta, present in the team for three seasons, is linked to Mercedes, and Adrian Sutil, who only missed the 2012 season with the Silverstone team due to legal issues, was preferred over Jules Bianchi at the start of the year, notably due to significant financial support.
From Lotus’s side, the probable end of hopes to enlist Hülkenberg could definitively open the door for the arrival of Pastor Maldonado and his sponsor PDVSA – Venezuela’s state oil company – which would have the merit of improving the situation of a team in great financial difficulty.
