Nico Hulkenberg is looking less likely to remain in Formula 1 for 2020 as Alfa Romeo hint at retaining Antonio Giovinazzi.

Since the German's exit at Renault was announced at Spa and Haas confirmed Romain Grosjean in Singapore, the Swiss-based team has become the most likely option left in F1 for next season.

Indeed, speaking to CNN in Japan, Hulkenberg confirmed: "Well certainly, I think that's quite obvious that I'm talking to them," he said. "But we'll see where it takes us."

In his favour is a strong history with team boss Fred Vasseur, having won in GP2 at his ART Grand Prix team and moved to Renault when he was in charge in 2017.

However, with Ferrari having a strong say over who holds the seat alongside Kimi Raikkonen, it now appears Antonio Giovinazzi is doing enough to remain for another year.

“We will make the decision quite soon but honestly, if you have a look at the last event I think that Antonio is doing a very strong job," Vasseur said.

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"He was matching Kimi in the last six or seven qualifyings in a row, he was in front in Sochi. OK, the first lap was not a good one for us but he’s doing the job and he’s improving step-by-step.

"This morning we had an issue on the car and he was not able to show the pace but he’s doing the job, he’s improving and I’m very confident with Antonio.”

The Frenchman also noted that some of the poor results in recent races haven't necessarily been Giovinazzi's fault.

"It’s true also that we made too many mistakes over the last three or four weekends – team, drivers, everyone in the same basket," he said.

"But at the end of the day, we have to wake up a little bit and to come back to the pace and top score points in the last four events.”

If that positive assessment does result in the Italian being retained by Alfa, that means only Red Bull is left as Williams will need a driver with financial backing alongside George Russell.

Another option is potentially staying on as a reserve driver at Renault, but team boss Cyril Abiteboul doubts that holds much appeal.

“We did not have this kind of discussion,” he confirmed as quoted by PlanetF1.

“At the moment we are focused on the season finale. We’ll see how it gets into Abu Dhabi or by December 31st, at which point we could even talk about it.

“But Nico, as I said clearly before, does not want to come to 22 Formula 1 races to watch. He is a racing driver.”