Formula 1: Will Nico Hulkenberg replace Pierre Gasly at Red Bull Racing in 2020?

Will current Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg replace Pierre Gasly at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in the 2020 Formula 1 season?

Last August, after Daniel Ricciardo made the shocking decision to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing for Renault starting in the 2019 Formula 1 season, Pierre Gasly, then in his first full season driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, became the likely candidate to end up as Max Verstappen’s teammate at the Milton Keynes-based team.

A few short weeks later, the 23-year-old Frenchman was confirmed as Ricciardo’s replacement and thus the new teammate to the 21-year-old Dutchman.

But no sooner did Gasly compete in his first race as a Red Bull Racing driver than he found himself on the hot seat. After a disappointing 17th place qualifying effort led to a disappointing non-points-scoring 11th place finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, rumors began to swirl that he may be replaced at Red Bull Racing after the 2019 season ends.

As he continued to struggled, these rumors turned into rumors that he may be replaced by Red Bull Racing even before the 2019 season comes to a close.

More from Formula One

• Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
• Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
• Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
• Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
• Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points

Over the last few races, Gasly has been decent to the point where the rumors about Red Bull Racing ousting him during the 21-race 2019 season have been calmed, but now more than ever, rumors are still swirling about his future with the team beyond the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Will current Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg replace Gasly at Red Bull Racing ahead of the 2020 season?

Hulkenberg is a driver who Red Bull Racing reportedly have their eye on if Gasly does not make marked improvements over the course of the 2019 season’s final 15 races.

The 31-year-old German has competed in 162 races over the course of his nine-year career in Formula 1, which goes back to the 2010 season but does not include the 2011 season. He holds the record for the most races started without securing a podium finish, but he would be in a great position to change that with a move to Red Bull Racing.

Hulkenberg’s career-high finishes are fourth place finishes, which he recorded in the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix driving for Sahara Force India, the 2013 Korean Grand Prix driving for Sauber and the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix driving for Force Indian.

He finished in a career-high seventh place in the driver standings last season and won the unofficial title of “best of the rest” behind the six Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers as a result of it.

Through the first six races of the 2019 season, Hulkenberg sits in 15th place in the driver standings with six points on only one top 10 finish, a seventh place finish in the Australian Grand Prix, but much of this lack of success can be attributed to Renault’s struggles.

Ricciardo isn’t doing much better than his teammate, as he sits in 13th in the standings with eight points, and Renault sit just one point ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing (14 to 13) for eighth in the constructor standings.

Gasly, meanwhile, is the “worst of the best”, as he sits in sixth place in the driver standings with 32 points. He trails Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for fifth by 25 points (57 to 32), and he trails Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for the lead of the standings by 105 points (137 to 32). He is only 14 points ahead of the current “best of the rest”, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., in seventh in the standings with 18 points.

Will Pierre Gasly be back for what would be his second season driving for Red Bull Racing in the 2020 Formula 1 season, or will Nico Hulkenberg end up replacing him? If neither, who will replace Gasly ahead of next season?