14/11/2010
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
With his future still uncertain, Nico Hulkenberg did himself no favours in Abu Dhabi today by finishing just ahead of the new teams in sixteenth.
"We didn't have the top speed and the competitiveness to overtake people today," lamented the German. "I was flat-out during the race, pushing very hard. That was all we'd got, sixteenth."
Speaking with the media yesterday team boss Sir Frank Williams was less than flattering about Hulkenberg, though he admitted he sees the 22-year-old as a future champion. "I can't offer a lot of good words about him," said Williams. "He's still young, but he's not yet a race winner and he's still learning."
The Williams team have not yet announced their driver line-up for 2011. While Rubens Barrichello is widely expected to be retained, the future of Hulkenberg is less clear. Now the team's financial position is more secure, having found replacements for departing sponsors, it now appears less inclined to take on a pay-driver such as Pastor Maldonado, though it refuses to be hurried into a decision.
Hulkenberg however, believes he's done everything to secure his seat. "I've done everything I could, I gave it my best," he says. With pole position in Brazil and an upturn in performance over the latter half of the season the Williams driver is confident that, if not for a handful of reliability faults, he could have done even better.
"Even though I'm happy with the second half of the season we could have scored a lot more points," he says. "We had a lot of bad luck with technical issues like in Spa with throttle pedal, and Korea, where I was on target for a fifth or sixth place but got a puncture."
For all his criticism Frank Williams still believes in the youngster, suggesting that he posses "great talent and a great future, of that there is no doubt." The question is whether that future is with Williams or elsewhere.