Today saw Nico Hulkenberg extend his tenure with Force India for potentially two more years, leaving many with the near certainty that the 28-year-old will not desirably be moving up the competitive order anytime soon.
The German is one who has delivered great promise and quality for several seasons to warrant fans and admirers being aggravated about how he is still not racing for one of the big names in Formula 1.
Although with a look in greater detail it can be seen more of a debate as to whether Hulkenberg should’ve stayed on at the Silverstone-based team or moved onto pastures new.
For
Force India stand to gain from keeping hold of not just Hulkenberg but likely Sergio Perez too, meaning that this driver lineup is to continue into a third consecutive season and guarantees the team greater stability in a year that has seen them hit with financial difficulties during winter testing, and held back the debut of their 2015 chassis.
Such stability, rare in the sport nowadays, can be rewarded should Hulkenberg decide to race for them into 2017, a year where technical upheaval to make the cars quicker and more difficult to drive can potentially go in Force India’s favour and give Hulkenberg his elusive opportunity to score podiums and even race wins.
In addition signing a two-year contract is not as clear as the casual eye sees it, Hulkenberg could be signing on for 2016 with an option to remain with the team for 2017, a trend midfield teams follow to implement a form of a performance clause on both the driver and team’s side. Therefore meaning that the 28-year-old can very much be a talking point in next year’s driver market providing he’s still putting in the exceptional performances we’ve grown accustomed to during next season.
Against
In all honesty a strong enough counter argument is difficult to concoct for Force India and Hulkenberg to extend their partnership, except with Hulkenberg being linked to incoming team Haas, who have technical ties with Ferrari and could pave a way for him to obtain a Ferrari race seat in the future.
Therefore renewing ties with Force India instead hurts his chances of racing for one of the big teams.
More so, on what the majority of fans have on their minds, a driver of Hulkenberg’s ability deserves to be racing at the front and like any F1 driver, his true ambition is to win races and championships and Vijay Mallya’s outfit is not equipped to live up to that ambition in the near future.
What I say
Rarely is the F1 community greeted with news, particularly of recent with a few tragedies still on our minds, that can be interpreted as positive for the sport and for a midfield team to retain a driver of Hulkenberg’s class and calibre instead of resorting to a driver with greater financial backing is healthy and sends a message to the cynics that F1 can still show that it has the very best racing drivers in the world.
Perez made the ill-fated jump to McLaren a few years ago only to end up being dropped after his first year and has since regretted the move. A damaged “reputation” is the last thing fans want to see associated with Hulkenberg, who may have noticed the risk that came with Perez situation.
The coveted drive with the likes of Ferrari (who have overlooked the Le Mans winner on at least two occasions), Red Bull, Williams or more realistically, Mercedes, are very difficult to get, especially with the talented, accomplished drivers that are currently sitting in the seats of the aforementioned teams and their team bosses desperate to keep a hold of them.
It’s also worth mentioning that as well the Drivers’ championship being contested by two drivers in the same team the previous year, this year and likely next year also. In theory, this reduces the number of lucrative race seats available by nature.
In an era of the sport where certain drivers are needed to hold a team’s ship together and one who can make it into a top team but ruthlessly axed from their setup and have their racing career left vulnerable. Sometimes it’s a good thought to have of Hulkenberg sitting in a privileged position of being neither a “pay driver” nor a driver who failed at the top, but who is wanted and surviving amidst the lack of continuity that is existent in the sport’s midfield and also recognised as an achiever at the top end of Motorsport anyway.
