Team owner Gene Haas admits he is unsure whether he can secure the services of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg for his eponymous squad’s 2016 debut campaign in Formula One.
Having delivered strong performances in the VJM08 and won this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours with Porsche, the German has firmly re-established himself as a hot commodity on the driver market entering the traditional silly season.
“I honestly don’t know if [Hulkenberg] is available or not,” Haas told Motorsport.com. “He’s doing pretty well there with Force India, obviously he didn’t have a great race day [at Budapest], but there seems to be a lot of interest in him.
“Whether we’d even have a shot at him or not, I don’t really honestly know. What does he want, what are his expectations? Drivers have a lot of hesitancy when it comes to working for a new team.”
“We’re still looking for an existing, current F1 driver. But that’s going to depend on who’s in what seats next year, but there should be more evidence in August of who’s going where.”
The US magnate recently revealed that Hulkenberg was one of the three drivers targeted by Haas F1 Team. The other two are Ferrari test drivers Esteban Gutiérrez and Jean-Eric Vergne, as the American squad enjoys a strong technical partnership with Maranello.
Along with Williams' Valtteri Bottas, it it believed that the revered Italian outfit also has Hulkenberg on it shortlist should it elect to replace Kimi Raikkonen next season.
Haas admits interest for Hulkenberg in 2016
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