OMNISPORT

Nico Hulkenberg has ruled out retiring from Formula One but knows he will not be on the grid next season after being axed by Renault.

Esteban Ocon will take Hulkenberg's seat at the Enstone squad next year, partnering Daniel Ricciardo.

A move to Haas was mooted as a possible option for the German driver, but Romain Grosjean was retained along with Kevin Magnussen.

Williams are the only team not to have finalized their line-up for 2020, with Robert Kubica leaving after one year back in the sport as George Russell's teammate.

Hulkenberg has accepted he is surplus to requirements, yet says he is not finished in the sport.

"It looks like, in all honesty, that there is no seat available now," he told Sky F1. "I guess it [Williams] is not the right seat for me and the timing... I'm not the right person for them to be honest.

"I'm not retiring. I love Formula One, I love what we do here, I love the competition. I can live with it. I think 10 years is a long time and a fair share of Formula 1. But for sure I'm going to miss it next year when I have to watch the first race on TV."

Hulkenberg reiterated that reverting to being a reserve driver is not an option.

"To go and do that, when you're young and at the beginning, and I did that in 2011, I think that's the right and obvious thing to do," the 32-year-old said. "To do that when more advanced in the career, it's kind of a hard one to take when you've raced so many years consecutively. That role, I'm not sure about."

Hulkenberg is 13th in the 2019 driver standings with 37 points ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on December 1.