A flurry of driver confirmations over the last few weeks has left the 2010 grid line-up looking an awful lot more complete than it did when we last had a run through of the glut of meaningless rumours out there in the ether of the internet. Indeed, with just a week or so of the year that was 2009 left to go, just six seats remain unfilled, and many of those are all-but secured by some old has-been or another.
The biggest prize left in the dregs of the F1 job centre noticeboard is the second seat at Mercedes GP, and the little card left in the shop window advertising that particular job now seems to have been grabbed by a 41-year old German of some note. Yes, a little-known F1 driver from the dim and distant past who goes by the name of Michael Schumacher (Remember him? He was Ralf's brother, if that helps jog your memory) is set for a sensational return to the sport. Incase you hadn't heard.
According to most rumour merchants, some of them who are usually almost reliable, a deal for Schumie to race for the Merc team in 2010 has been agreed in principle, with German rags quoting £7 million as the size of the contract (which in the official measurement of F1 salaries equates to roughly a third of a Raikkonen). All that remains now, apparently, is for Schumie to prove that his nagging neck injury is no longer an issue, and he is good to go.
Should his neck become an issue, then Mercedes will likely fall back on the rather less appealing form of Nick Heidfeld, who is one of the few F1 'big names' to remain on the jobless list for 2010 as things stand. If Ickle isn't wanted by Mercedes, he may want a Sauber drive, but Peter Sauber has recently said that Heidfeld is not on his wish list, and both the wackily-named Bertrand Baguette and the stupefyingly average Pedro de la Rosa have been linked with his second car instead. Christian Klien has also been linked with a drive, as Sauber attempts to hark back to its old days of traditional averageness.
At Renault, meanwhile, there is another option for Mercedes if the Schumacher deal breaks down, with Robert Kubica sounding less-than impressed with the Genii Capital buyout of the Renault team. Kubica will likely have the option to leave the team given the change of ownership, though he would probably only be tempted by the Merc drive. In the second Renault seat, anyone could still be unveiled there. Hapless Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung was initially linked with the drive because of his links with the Genii driver management arm, but recent developments suggest he might be signed as a test driver instead.
Other options for Renault include Heidfeld again, meaning that the French team would basically have grafted the 2009 BMW lineup onto their team, Vitaly Petrov, who is useless but comes with a suitcase stuffed with Russian oil money, and former Super Aguri legend Franck Montagny, who also probably has some sponsor money stuffed into one orifice or another.
Further back down the grid, Petrov is also heavily linked with the second Campos seat, having competed for the team in GP2 in the past, though he faces competition from the banal likes of fellow GP2 journeyman Pastor Maldonado, the inexplicably popular de la Rosa and, apparently, Nelson Piquet Jr. Though it's more likely that Michael Schumacher or someone would make a comeback than Piquet ever getting back on the grid. Oh, wait...
Meanwhile, everyone has got bored of guessing whether or not Jaime Alguersuari is actually confirmed at Toro Rosso for 2010, or if he's just 99% certain or 98% certain or something. The only other vacancies are at Team USF1, who have promised a seat to Jose Maria Lopez, assuming that J-Lo can come up with a stack of sponsor money in the first place. As for the second seat, anyone and everyone remains linked with the drive, including Jacques Villeneuve, Jonathan Summerton, Alex Wurz and de la Rosa again. The anticipation is almost creeping above a flatline on that particular aspect of silly season.
Confirmed drivers so far:
Mercedes GP - Rosberg / TBA
Red Bull - Webber / Vettel
McLaren - Hamilton / Button
Ferrari - Alonso / Massa
Williams - Barrichello / Hulkenburg
Renault - Kubica / TBA
Force India - Sutil / Liuzzi
Toro Rosso - Buemi / Alguersuari
Sauber - Kobayashi / TBA
Campos - Senna / TBA
Manor - Glock / di Grassi
USF1 - TBA / TBA
Lotus - Trulli / Kovalainen
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feedWrite comment
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
