Stewart: Hulk is safeposted in F107 | 11 | 2010

SIR JACKIE Stewart, the three-times Formula One world champ, is in no doubt Brazilian Grand Prix polesitter Nico Hulkenberg will secure his position with Williams for 2011. In fact the 71-year-old Scot is more concerned the Grove-based team now risks losing the talented 23-year-old German.

Hulkenberg stunned the F1 establishment by grabbing his maiden pole position yesterday in the tricky drying conditions at Interlagos. But despite securing Williams' first pole since the Nurburgring in 2005, the German faces stiff competition for his seat next season from pay-driver Pastor Maldonado. Stewart though is adamant Hulkenberg should be kept on by the team.

"I would be very surprised if he is not taken," Stewart, who is an ambassador for Williams' current sponsor RBS, said after he arriving at the circuit today. "The biggest chance he has now is of being grabbed by a more affluent team, not the risk of not having a drive.

"He is never going to be without a job. I think even already this year he has proved himself. He has made some mistakes but that is the same as any young puppy does. Puppies, you try to train them and you think you have got them trained and then they pee on the floor again. It is a process of doing that.

"My view of it is that we have got somebody who here in Brazil has demonstrated that he has got all the skills capable of doing the job."

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Jim McGill