Hulkenberg signing 2023 Haas contract on Tuesday

Nico Hulkenberg is signing on the dotted line of his 2023 race contract on Tuesday, according to multiple authoritative sources including Bild newspaper.

According to the reports, which include Italy’s leading sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and the German broadcasters Sky and RTL, the 35-year-old German’s return to Formula 1 will then be announced on Wednesday.

Mick Schumacher was reportedly given the bad news in Brazil last weekend, where his uncle - former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher - sounded resigned about his 23-year-old nephew’s fate.

"Mick has shown that there is potential," he told Sky Deutschland. "But no matter what he did, the team and Gunther Steiner were never satisfied with him.

"The whole thing cannot be understood by normal standards. It must be something personal.

"I don’t think Gunther Steiner can handle the fact that someone else is the focus at Haas. He is very, very happy to be the one who is in the foreground."

Schumacher, 47, continued: "You can’t call it good personnel management. Rather, you have to motivate your employees.

"He was under constant pressure not to make any mistakes or he wouldn’t be with Haas anymore. But when you’re under that much pressure, you can’t drive freely anymore."

Mick Schumacher has been linked with a reserve seat at Alpine next year, but he may prefer to take up a potential alternative with Mercedes.

"I don’t know what the status is with Mick and Haas," Toto Wolff said after the Brazilian GP.

"But I make no secret of the fact that the Schumacher family belongs with us and that we value Mick very highly."