Formula 1

Hulkenberg admits Ferrari talks in 2009

Nico Hulkenberg has revealed that talks earlier this year could have led to his Formula One race debut at the wheel of Ferrari's 2009 car. In the wake of Felipe Massa's Hungary accident and the demise of his initial replacements Michael Schumacher ...

GMM

Edited: Dec 4, 2009, 3:17 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Nico Hulkenberg has revealed that talks earlier this year could have led to his Formula One race debut at the wheel of Ferrari's 2009 car.

In the wake of Felipe Massa's Hungary accident and the demise of his initial replacements Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer, 22-year-old Hulkenberg's name was among the many linked with the cockpit.

The German, who is the new GP2 champion, has now told the SID news agency that the reports of talks with the famous Italian team were correct.

"There was certainly interest and enquiries," said Hulkenberg, who will make his F1 debut in 2010 with Williams and will be in action for the British team this week at Jerez.

"On one hand I was very eager to do it," he admitted, "but on the other hand it would have been two half-stories: GP2 and Formula One.

"In the end I was able to focus on GP2 and win the title and now I enter F1 with the appropriate preparation. It's probably good that it did not work out," said Hulkenberg.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Young driver test kicks off at Jerez (CORRECTED)

Next article Ferrari Jerez test notes 2009-12-02

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

GMM



The season is still very long - Rosberg

Formula 1

Formula 1

The season is still very long - Rosberg



Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes

Formula 1

Formula 1

Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes



Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position

Formula 1

Formula 1

Chinese GP

Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position

More from

Felipe Massa



On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement

Formula 1

Formula 1

Italian GP

On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement



Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case

Formula 1

Formula 1

Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case



Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial

Formula 1

Formula 1

Las Vegas GP

Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial

More from

Ferrari



The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026

Formula 1

Formula 1

United States GP

16 h

The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026



Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role

Formula 1

Formula 1

Singapore GP

Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role



Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Latest news



NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

11 h

NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar



Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 11 h

Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026



Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

11 h

Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP



KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 12 h

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

Feature

Discover prime content



How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect

Formula 1

United States GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect



Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40



How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1



Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe