Nico Hulkenberg's manager Willi Weber has claimed that he turned down an offer to join Virgin Racing alongside Timo Glock.
Weber says his charge is only keen on racing for a team at Williams' level
Nico Hulkenberg's manager Willi Weber has claimed that he turned down an offer to join Virgin Racing alongside fellow German Timo Glock.
Hulkenberg's Formula One future remains uncertain following Williams' decision at the end of last season not to renew his contract.
Despite the 23-year-old having had a largely promising rookie year, including a pole position in Brazil, he has been replaced by Pastor Maldonado, who brings backing with him from his home country of Venezuela.
With the only seats yet to be confirmed for 2011 being two at Force India and one at Hispania Racing, Hulkenberg's only other option appears as a reserve driver with Mercedes GP mentioned as a possibility.
Weber, though, has always maintained they were not keen on joining a new team like Virgin or taking a reserve driver role.
"It has to be a team from at least the level of Williams," he told Germany's
Auto, Motor und Sport. "We had an offer from Virgin and we were very happy with it but two German drivers in a team with Timo Glock is too risky."
Weber also said that Hulkenberg is "too good" to become a so-called pay driver.
"Formula One has to be careful the series won't be split in a championship with 14 real drivers and 10 rich drivers who pay to race. There is something wrong with teams that only sign up drivers for their budgets," he added.
"I simply refuse to pay for Nico's cockpit. The minute you start paying for your seat you will have to bring money for the rest of his career. He is just too good to start paying for his seat in Formula One."
