Nico Hulkenberg's management insists it is still trying to negotiate the best possible deal for him in 2011, despite reports that he has a place as a Friday test driver at Force India next season.
On Monday, the newspaper Blick reported that Hulkenberg would take part in Friday practice for the team while Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil are set be confirmed as race drivers. However, that report has now been deleted from the publication's website.
In the report, Weber was quoted as saying that Hulkenberg had also been a contender for the third seat at McLaren but "Martin Whitmarsh was worried that it would be seen as a threat to Button".
However, Weber has now told the German news agency SID that Hulkenberg's future will not be certain until mid-January. "I am negotiating with several teams," he insisted.
Another member of Hulkenberg's management team, Timo Gans, told motorsport-magazin.com: "The official statement is made usually by the team. So we don't want to make any official statements before the team does."
Sutil's manager Manfred Zimmermann said he was still confident his driver would be at Force India this year, but admitted the deal has not yet been finalised.
"I don't know where it [the Blick story] comes from - probably from Willi Weber because it says Nico Hulkenberg will be test driver," he said. "I can only speak for us. We are basically in agreement with Force India, the contract is being drafted but it is not signed."
Zimmermann added that confirmation could take between 10 and 14 days.
Force India did not comment.
Source: ESPNF1
