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Hulkenberg and Force India announce contract extension

Published on 01 Sep 2015 12:44
4
By: Rob Veenstra

Sahara Force India is delighted to announce the signing of a two-year contract extension with Nico Hulkenberg. It means Hulkenberg will race in the team's colours until at least the end of the 2017 season, giving the team valuable stability in the years ahead.

Nico Hulkenberg: "I'm very pleased to finalise and announce my plans for the future. I know this team inside out and I feel at home here so it made perfect sense to make a long-term commitment. The progress the team has shown over the last two years has really impressed me and gives me confidence for the future. It's a great group of people who are hungry for success and want to keep improving year-on-year. I think we have the important things in place going forward and I want to continue growing with this team as we move even further up the grid."

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: "I make no secret of being one of Nico's biggest fans and so it's fantastic to confirm him as our driver for the next couple of seasons. He has spent almost four years with us already and in that time we’ve seen him develop into one of the best racing drivers in the world. Nico has the speed, the technical knowledge and the maturity to help us achieve some great results in the years ahead. We will do everything we can to continue delivering a car to match his talent."

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Replies (4)

khasmir

Posts: 893
Nice, wasn't sure the Hulk would stay or gamble on Haas.
Smart decision by Mallya, even though Hulk doesn't bring any big sponsors, any team should consider themselves lucky with a driver like that.
Also smart choice for Hulk, even though Haas might be a good step towards Ferrari in the future, I don't think they have room for 2 Germans.

Now it all depends what happens with Lotus and who are the highest bidders for a Manor seat...
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- Sep 1 2015 - 22:21
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  You make a few good points there. And if it turns out that Haas does a good job, there's always a year after 2016. Looks set in stone that Lotus will be bought by Renault, even Ecclestone has mentioned the deal now, so looks more and more certain.
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  Sep 1 2015 - 23:26
- khasmir
  
  Posts: 893
  Indeed, I also don't see it going any other way for Lotus ;)
  
  Forgot to mention that Force India is not doing a bad job this year so another good reason for Hulk to stay there since Haas is still a big unknown. He really deserves a seat with a top team but as long as Vettel is with Ferrari I think we will see him sooner in a works Merc ;)
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  Sep 2 2015 - 00:01
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I could see Hulk in a Mercedes or Williams. He really do deserve a seat in a higher up team, but Force India is doing a decent job currently, so nothing wrong staying with them. Things could get quite interesting. I could definitely see Force India outscoring Lotus (for all we know Lotus might not even last the season out). But they could very well be worse of next season should they decided to jump on the Renault train (which I doubt they will), unless the French manage to solve their lack of power. Renault could buy another team and let Lotus turn into dust, I guess, but that'd be utterly pointless of them. I wonder what'll happen to Manor when this season ends.
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  Sep 2 2015 - 15:21