Nico Hulkenberg has warned Lotus and their rivals that he won’t hold out for a seat much longer, giving a deadline of the end of October for any negotiations to end.
The German doesn’t want to risk a repeat of 2010 when he was dropped by Williams at the end of the season, despite taking pole position in Brazil, leaving him without a seat for ’11.
It’s believed Lotus are just one of a handful of teams looking at Hulkenberg, but the 26-year-old is wanting assurances from Enstone that Infinity Racing will invest in the team before he signs anything – and that needs to happen soon.
“I want to have some certainty about my future – and not in November,” told Autosport.
“It needs to be at the end of the month, for sure. There is obviously a certain cut off point.
“I have experienced falling over the back in 2010, and I am not going to risk doing that again.”
If he signs with Lotus, it would be his fourth team in five years, but he isn’t concerned by the lack of consistency.
“It is not a worry,” he added. “It is maybe not ideal but there is a positive side as well because you can take all the good things forward.”
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