Nico Hulkenberg says he is glad he waited to make the move to Formula 1 with Williams next year – after revealing he turned down the chance to join Ferrari as Felipe Massa’s replacement in the middle of last season.

Hulkenberg, who has been promoted from a testing role to a race seat at Williams, said that his reputation could have taken a huge knock if he had been in the Ferrari rather than staying on to win the GP2 crown.

“Ferrari contacted my manager Willi Weber. They had a bit of interest and there was some contact,” Hulkenberg told Autosport.

“It didn’t come out that way, as we know, and I think it worked out for the best because I was able to finish GP2, win it and start F1 clean with Williams, who are a great team.

“It would have been bad for me not only to leave GP2 when I was in a position to win the title, but also for my reputation to be affected by bad results in F1.

“Look what happened to [Romain] Grosjean. A couple of tough races and then someone like [Kamui] Kobayashi turns up for two races and looks really good. It must have been very tough for him.”

[source: autosport.com]