Nico Hulkenberg says fourth place won't change his future in F1

The German does not have a drive for 2014, but he is in the running for a Lotus seat, a return to Force India or even a new deal at Sauber.

"Good results are always welcome and it's a good advert," said Hulkenberg when asked by AUTOSPORT about the potential impact of his performance in Korea, where he fended off Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

"I can't do more than give them [potential employers] a kick to maybe think again.

"But people won't change their mind in view of the race. It [the future] will sort itself out.

"It was a very good performance, a great team effort."

Hulkenberg struggled for results early in the season after switching from Force India to Sauber.

He scored only seven points in the first 11 races of 2013 with a best finish of eighth in Malaysia.

He admits that the team's struggles made him question whether he was right to move but he has been impressed with the way Sauber has turned the situation around.

"Regret is a big word, but I was not very happy initially with the move if you think you make a step forward and then it turns out to be a step backwards," he said.

"But you make choices in life, some are good and some are not, and the most important thing is to handle the situation well and keep doing a good job.

"In the beginning of the year after the first seven or eight races things were not looking great and there were no real signs of big progress and then suddenly it snapped."

"Suzuka is quite different, very quick and flowing and we will have to look at what we do to our setup because the aero configuration could be different," he said.

"Don't make the mistake of expecting this every weekend now.

"We can position ourselves around the top 10, that's the first box we need to tick, then maybe we can look further."