Nico Hulkenberg has revealed he may consider racing for Alfa Romeo for 2021, under the right terms.
Hulkenberg, speaking to the F1 Nation podcast, said that he would think about driving for the team next year if a seat came available, after letting slip over the weekend he is currently in talks with a number of teams on a return to the grid next season.
MORE: Hulkenberg reveals talks with F1 teams over 2021 role
Hulkenberg also let out in the podcast that he had been taking to Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur over the possibility of joining the team.
"Yes, yes is the short answer," Hulkenberg commented.
"I mean doing a deal, there's several terms that play into it -- it's the whole package, I guess.
"I'm very keen to go racing again in Formula One. I still love it here, it's my passion. I'm not desperate but I'd certainly love to come back and be racing again. "I've been talking to Fred [Vasseur] quite frequently in the last few months."
Vasseur also recently spoke on the intention to sign Hulkenberg for next season, admitting it is yet too early to make a decision on who will drive for the team in 2021.
Sergio Perez has also been linked in recent weeks to the team despite his multi-year contract at Racing Point, while it is rumoured that current Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen could be set to retire at the end of the year.
"Honestly it's a bit too early for us," Vasseur told F1's Beyond the Grid podcast. "I need to discuss the point with my shareholders and to know what Kimi wants to do. And I don't want to disturb the team so far.
"It would be the worst kind of scenario to try to have those discussions today.
"We have to recover because I want to be attractive to drivers, and I'm not sure we can convince someone to join when we are struggling. We first need to recover and then convince drivers to join."
Get rid of Kimi already. He's a hobbyist driver for a few years now. He has no passion about the sport. He probably wouldn't care too much whether he's in F1 or not. Nico is eager to come back. He has a lot fo prove. He's still fairly young.
At this point I'd pick Gio over Kimi, so Hulk for me is a no-brainer. Of course he deserves the seat more than any of those two drivers. I would like to se Hulk and Shwartzman next year in Alfa. But perhaps Hulk is reluctant to join the losing team? Or perhaps he figures being in F1 is better than being out.
IMO Nico is way to arrogant, and what has he proved until now? That he is capable to pick the wrong team - throughout his hole career (apart from winning the Le Mans 24 - with the only car constructor that had a chance to win)
I wouldn't say he's been in a position to pick throughout most of his career, in regards to F1 teams at least, with exeption of his one-year-stint with Sauber. When he joined he impressed with Williams, but he was dropped due to lack of funding/sponsorship. Vijay offered him a lifeline with Force India. He's been rated high but there has always been someone infront in line for the good seats (in 2013 he was 2nd in line after Hamilton to join Mercedes, and in 2014 he was 2nd in line after Kimi to join Ferrari). His decision to join Renault was understandable, he had to roll the dice and he performed well there, beating his teammates.
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ajpennypacker
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Get rid of Kimi already. He's a hobbyist driver for a few years now. He has no passion about the sport. He probably wouldn't care too much whether he's in F1 or not. Nico is eager to come back. He has a lot fo prove. He's still fairly young.