Hülkenberg says he does not believe anymore in a Lotus drive for 2014

Would like to know what really happend with Hulk and Ferrari.......

 

McLaren's biggest mistake

 

Two years in a row.

 

No doubt about that!

 

+1. hoping that in 2015 or 16 he makes the move to Ferrari. Possibly yet a Hulk and Vettel duo in 17.

 

Venezuela news quoting PDVSA saying Lotus will take Pastor.

Like I posted earlier what was the real story with Hulk and Ferrari?

 

I guess we'll never really know, but there was a rumor that he asked for too much money!

As I noted at the time, a *very* silly boy if true.......

 

Perhaps they may consider taking Hulk on to accompany KR when FA is gone.

 

The future of Nico Hulkenberg
November 19, 2013 by Joe Saward

In Formula 1 things can move quickly so something that is said 36 hours ago may not always be true if written today. However on Sunday I was assured by Force India and by Nico Hulkenberg’s people that no agreement had been signed between the two of them. This was not really a surprise. Although Hulkenberg is worried that he could find himself without a race drive in 2014, his performances in recent weeks have made him a pretty hot property although the teams that are in the running for his services are not all flush with cash. However it seems that he is still hoping that the dream scenario will occur and that Lotus F1 will get the money that is supposed to arrive and that he will be signed as Romain Grosjean’s team-mate for 2014. This has been dragging on for so long, however, that many doubt it is a real deal, so Hulkenberg is fearful that Lotus will in the end sign Pastor Maldonado, who has money behind him.

Even if that does not happen it is possible that Sergio Perez could turn up at Lotus with cash. Sauber’s situation is not dissimilar (but less acute). It has signed a deal with Russian backers but the details of the arrangement are still being sorted out and so no one is certain that all is well until that happens. If the money is there then Hulkenberg might stay where he is, which is not a bad choice given the speed of the cars in recent races. Force India is the other option but once again the money is in question. Vijay Mallya says that all is well, but he has said that about his companies in India as well and a lot of then are floating around in red ink, while team partner Roy Sahara has a nasty deadline from the Supreme Court to hand over $3.2 billion in pocket change or face going to jail. Mallya’s own empire is still laden with $2.5 billion of debt thanks to the ill-starred Kingfisher Airlines. All this is well above the interest of the average F1 driver. All they want to know is whether or not the team has cash to employ them, or not. Right now it makes no sense for The Hulk to sign anything. He will just have to hope that a flurry of pay-drivers will not squeeze him out of a drive…


joeblogsf1 | The real stories from inside the F1 paddock

 

His best bet may be to sit out and be a star for hire if a driver on a top team has to sit out a race or two.
Dont get locked into a crap ride.

 

It's a shame that drivers like Maldonado can buy seats while the likes of Hülkenberg risk sitting at the sidelines.

 

Understatement of the year right there!.....

Trouble is, in the current "economic climate", what else can they do?

Looks like he's going to wind up at Fauxtus, which at least means the guys get paid rather than laid off! Lesser of two evils I guess.

Heard anything more from our buddy Ijaz recently? Anyone know if he was even in Austin? Considering his "we'll be #1 in 12 months" comments he seems to have gone awfully quiet lately.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

When was it different?

Back in the day they were called "Gentlemen Drivers".

 

Very true. Pay guys come and go for sure.

But, weren't most (?) of the "gentlemen" simply not paid professionals versus actually paying for their rides? They were wealthy and did it for fun - I don't know how many actually bellied up and bought their seats?

Cheers,
Ian

 

I completely agree with you.

Strange thing is Maldonado can say he is a proven race winner in F1 and the Hulk cannot.

 

But did pay drivers ever get seats in top teams? Lotus is one right now. No one cares if someone buys a seat in a Marussia, but I'd prefer those fighting for points and wins choosing their drivers by skill and not by wallet.

 

Interesting point - shows just how much you can buy in today's F1

 

Depends on what era you're talking about. At times drivers bought their cars and paid for factory team support. Wolf Barnato went so far as to buy Bentley Motors lock, stock and barrel.

 

Hector Rebaque comes to mind. He partnered with Piquet when the latter won the WDC with Brabham in '81.


Many have suffered the lack of resources just like Hülkenberg. Not the first and certainly not the last. What is disconcerting is the huge amounts of money thrown in. It used to be that certain drivers could somehow come up with the cash but nowadays we are talking about tens of millions of USD.

If Maldonado lands the drive with Lotus so be it. One buy and the other one sells.

 

Great story from a great book.
For the most part, until Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart there was little commercial sophistication among drivers. Until Chapman there wasn't the steady money stream from sponsors to pay them much. Before that most drivers negotiated as best they could for what amounted to subsistence wages. Much of the negotiations centered around the split of appearence money and winnings. Very few drivers retired with much in the bank.
We tend to forget that for a long time even Ferrari was surviving financially year to year, not until the Fiat deal did they have anything resembling a secure funding stream.

 

And with that he can claim that he's scored 9 times in 57 races. Hulkenberg is somewhere in the 40s with as many races under his belt.

When I found that out, just puts it in perspective. The Williams was a good car last year. IIRC 7 races in a row after his win he failed to score/crashed out.

 

Buying seats has been around forever in all race series - will never go away