Formula 1: Nico Hulkenberg ‘likely’ to return to Renault in 2020

Nico Hulkenberg is “likely” to return to Renault for the 2020 Formula 1 season, which would be his fourth consecutive season driving for the team.

Nico Hulkenberg believes that it is “quite likely” that he will be one of Renault’s two drivers for the fourth consecutive Formula 1 season next year.

The 31-year German made this claim amid rumors that he may be replaced by Mercedes junior driver Esteban Ocon next season. Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff and Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul had a handshake agreement to send the 22-year-old Frenchman to Renault ahead of the 2019 season, but Abiteboul pulled out of this agreement.

Instead, Renault opted to sign Daniel Ricciardo, who made the shocking decision to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. As a result, Wolff has urged Abiteboul to “restore his gentleman image” and sign Ocon as Hulkenberg’s replacement for the 2020 season.

There have also been less prevalent rumors that Jack Aitken, the 23-year-old Briton who is a member of Renault’s young driver program, competes in Formula 2 and serves as Renault’s test driver in Formula 1, could replace Hulkenberg, although these rumors have died down as of late.

But despite all of this talk, Hulkenberg does not see any major obstacles standing between him and a contract extension with the team for which he has driven since the start of the 2017 season. Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to Formula 1.

"“If you look across three years we can’t be entirely happy with everything we have done. Nevertheless, the outlook is still good, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. We can still catch up to some extent – how much is always difficult to say with entire certainty – but yeah we’ll see what happens in the future and what happens to me as well. As for now, there’s nothing set in stone, but I think it’s quite likely that I’ll remain with the team.”"

Hulkenberg holds the unwanted distinction of being the driver who has competed in the most Formula 1 races in history without finishing on the podium. He had a chance to finish on the podium in last Sunday’s German Grand Prix, his home race, but he crashed out. He had run as high as second place in what was his 167th career start.

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

Since he began driving for Renault at the start of the 2017 season, Hulkenberg has made 52 starts, and his best finish is his fifth place finish in last year’s German Grand Prix.

Through the first 11 races of the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season, Hulkenberg sits in 14th place in the driver standings in what has been a disappointing season for Renault following a season that resulted in them finishing in fourth place in the constructor standings, their best resulted since the 2008 season, as the “best of the rest” team behind Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. Renault currently sit in sixth in the standings.

Last season, Hulkenberg himself finished in a career-high seventh place in the driver standings as the “best of the rest” driver behind the six Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers. He currently trails Ricciardo by five points (22 to 17) in the standings. Ricciardo sits in 10th place tie with McLaren rookie Lando Norris.

Will Nico Hulkenberg return to Renault in the 2020 Formula 1 season? If not, will he be replaced by Esteban Ocon? If Hulkenberg does not return to the team and Ocon does not replace him, who will Renault sign to be Daniel Ricciardo’s new teammate?