19/09/2019
NEWS STORY
Though there remain six seats still officially unconfirmed, in almost every instance the current incumbent looks set to remain.
The one exception is Williams, where Robert Kubica today announced his decision to leave at season end.
It wasn't that long ago that drivers would have been falling over themselves to join the Grove outfit, which remains one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport.
However, currently looking set to be left standing when the music comes to a stop on this year's round of driver musical chairs, Nico Hulkenberg admits that the Grove outfit is not on his radar.
"As much as I want to continue in Formula 1, for me, it needs to make sense," the German told reporters, just hours after Haas revealed its intention to stick with its current line-up.
"It needs to be sensible," he continued, "it needs to be the right deal. I'm not desperate to stay in Formula 1 and just take anything.
"I'm not disregarding or disrespecting Williams," he added, "I mean generally, globally, even with Haas now. That for me, that is the most important thing for me.
"I think you see and understand for yourself what is still available, which seats and which not. I think that's pretty obvious. Right now, I don't know. I think it's to an extent out of my control now, out of my hands. So the most important is to drive and to perform.
"I think we just need time. I think there are possibilities and a realistic chance, but in this game, you can never be too sure."
While Haas claims that Hulkenberg was never under serious consideration, Hulkenberg disputes this.
"I didn't pursue that deal, we go ahead, we didn't agree it, we didn't get together with Haas," he said. "But Haas was definitely an option, and we were talking. That's definitely not a secret. We just didn't get together, on this occasion we couldn't agree a deal."
Other than the seat at Williams alongside George Russell, the only other possible vacancy is at Alfa Romeo alongside Kimi Raikkonen, though Ferrari appears keen to keep the Italian in place.
The other still to be confirmed seats are at Red Bull and Toro Rosso, both of which are likely to retain their current line-ups.
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