Wolff confirms talks with Hulkenberg about reserve driver role

Mercedes has quite some influence in Formula 1 with three customer teams. They have agreed with McLaren that the team from Woking can use the spare drivers of Mercedes when one of their own drivers falls ill. This might provide an excellent opportunity for Nico Hulkenberg.

The German already hinted last week that he is in talks with Mercedes about a reserve role at the team and that is now confirmed by Toto Wolff. "He's a known quantity and well respected, so it would be good, but it's not yet (done). We didn't put pen to paper," the Mercedes team boss is quoted by The Daily Mail.

Will Russell get priority?

Should Hulkenberg and Wolff reach an agreement, then this might be the best chance to drive Formula 1 this season. Via Mercedes, he can drive for all customer teams. It doesn't guarantee a seat with the factory team though. Should Bottas or Hamilton drop out of the race, George Russell might get a second chance while Hulkenberg takes his place at Williams.

"Nico knows the current generation of Formula One cars and the tyres, and it would be good to have him in the line-up as a solution, maybe to be shared with other teams," Wolff concluded on the first day of the winter test in Bahrain.