SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO
- Massa
- Alonso
RENAULT F1 TEAM
- Grosjean
- ?
PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING
- Nakajima
- Heidfeld
BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM
- Kubica
- Rosberg
VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES
- Hamilton
- Glock
AT&T WILLIAMS TOYOTA
- Hulkenburg
- ?
BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM MERCEDES
- Button
- Raikkonen
RED BULL RACING RENAULT/BMW/FERRARI
- Vettel
- Webber
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO RENAULT/BMW/FERARRI
- Buemi
- Trulli
FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM MERCEDES
- Sutil
- Liuzzi
CAMPOS META TEAM COSWORTH
- ?
- ?
MANOR GRAND PRIX COSWORTH
- Davidson
- Paffett
TEAM US F1 COSWORTH
- Speed
- Bourdais


Other Possible Drivers:
-Fisichella
-Patrick
-Andretti
-Barrichello
-Kova
-Sato
-Hartly
-Anthony Davidson
-Adam Carroll
-Di Grassi
-Kamui Kobayashi
-Paul Di Reista
-Piquiet
-Senna
-Pantano

Probibly wont happen but still, it would be nice alonso back in a half decent car.

Going by Wikipedia, Alonso has apparently signed on to stay with Renault, though the source was in German (I think), so I couldn't read it. That said, both Raikkonen and Massa have extended their contracts with Ferrari through 2010, and back when there was speculation Alonso might go to Ferrari - around the time of Sepang - he said "Honestly, I'd rather go to Brawn".

As for the Campos and USF1 drives, I know both teams are looking at fielding two Spanish and two American drivers each, but Super Aguri proved that the Home Country All-Stars approach doesn't work. The best drivers available to the teams should get those seats, not simply someone from the same country. I can see Campos taking one Spanish driver and USF1 one American. Because of their close assoication with Barwa Addax, if Vitaly Petrov keeps his current form up, he could be fast-tracked for a Campos drive (which would draw a lot of sponsor money form Russia), while I think Barrichello would be invaluable to a team like USF1.

Well, with yesterday's announcements, here's the 2010 entry list for the teams, with my customary colour coding, and several drivers named for the new teams as well. Feel free to comment.

Brawn GP Formula One Team
Brawn BGP 002 – Mercedes FO108X (currently) / Renault RS27 (should Red Bull and Mercedes get together, and STR stick with Ferrari) / Ferrari 056 (if Red Bull gets Mercedes and STR switches to Renault) / Cosworth CA2010 (as a last resort, although it's said that 4 teams applied for Cossies)
1. Jenson Button (on a multi-year deal)
2. Rubens Barrichello (one more season?)
Bruno Senna (will he get his chance? Might be unlikely if Brawn lift the WDC/WCC)

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull RB6 – Mercedes FO108X (rumoured) / Renault RS27 (currently) / Ferrari 056 (not likely, since Red Bull are now WDC contenders and a potential Ferrari rival) / Cosworth CA2010 (running 20,000 RPMs in Newey's car ain’t bad)
3. Sebastian Vettel (on a multi-year deal?)
4. Mark Webber (confirmed for ‘09; likely to stay on)
Sébastien Buemi (if Webber gets an other seat)
Brendon Hartley (current tester)
Fernando Alonso (who wouldn’t want a Newey-designed WDC contender?)

Panasonic Toyota Racing
Toyota TF110 – Toyota RVX-10
5. Jarno Trulli (will he really stay on for another season?)
Kamui Kobayashi (current test driver)
Kazuki Nakajima (allegedly has a long-term Toyota deal, but may not have the ultimate skill to make in in the big time)
anyone else fancy a potential race-winning car?
6. Timo Glock (re-signed for 2009; on a multi-year deal)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Ferrari F2010 – Ferrari 056
7. Felipe Massa (contracted until ‘10)
8. Kimi Räikkönen (contracted until ‘10)

AT&T Williams
Williams FW32 – Toyota RVX-10
9. Nico Rosberg (allegedly had a deal until the end of ‘10, but has stated he needs a top car in 2009 to remain at Williams)
Jarno Trulli (Williams said they’d like an experienced driver in ‘10)
Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
10. Kazuki Nakajima (confirmed for ‘09; probably on long-term deal because of Toyota)
Kamui Kobayashi (current Toyota test driver)
Nico Hülkenberg (test driver currently in GP2)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren MP4-25 – Mercedes FO108X
11. Lewis Hamilton (contracted until '12)
12. Heikki Kovalainen (long-term contract with options?)
Nico Rosberg (has Williams deal, but is rumoured for McLaren, would depend on Williams' '09 performance, Kovalainen's results, and whether McLaren actually want him)
Timo Glock (has a multi-year Toyota deal, yet is rumoured for McLaren)
Gary Paffet (long-time McLaren test driver)

Renault F1 Team
Renault R30 – Renault R27
14. Fernando Alonso (one more year at Renault, then to Ferrari?)
Robert Kubica (once in Renault’s Driver Development Program; may jump ship from BMW)
15. Nelson Piquet
Lucas Di Grassi (finally takes Piquet's place, depends on his GP2 performance)
Romain Grosjean (Renault test driver, depends on his GP2 performance)

BMW Sauber F1 Team
BMW Sauber F1.10 – BMW P86/10 (when will they drop the ‘Sauber’ bit?)
16. Robert Kubica (contracted for '09; option for '10?)
Nico Rosberg (rumoured)
17. Nick Heidfeld (contracted for '09)
Christian Klien (current test driver)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Roso STR5 – Ferrari 056 (Ferrari contract allegedly runs until ‘10) / Renault R27 (if Red Bull-Mercedes comes to fruition)
18. Sébastien Bourdais (a 3rd season seems unlikely if he doesn’t regularly beat Buemi
Brendon Hartley (Red Bull junior driver and tester)
Neel Jani (finally he gets his chance, but 2 Swiss drivers at STR?)
19. Sébastien Buemi (hard to see him dropped after some solid drives)

Force India F1 Team
Force India VJM03 – Mercedes FO108X
20. Adrian Sutil (depending on his ‘09 performance)
21. Giancarlo Fisichella (may be out after ‘09)
Vitantonio Liuzzi (current tester)
Karun Chandhok (after another GP2 season, he gets the nod from Mallya)

Campos Meta Team
Campos Meta CM10 – Cosworth CA2010 (Dallara-designed and -built car)
22. Marc Gené (experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Roldán Rodríguez (Spanish GP2 driver)
Javier Villa (Spanish GP2 driver)
23. Giorgio Pantano (although Italian, he was GP2 champion for Campos in ‘08)
Adrián Vallés (Spanish WSR driver, drove for Campos in GP2 in ‘06)
Pastor Maldonado (talented Venezuelan, at least speaks Spanish)

Manor Grand Prix
Manor BW01 – Cosworth CA2010 (car designed and built by Nick Wirth, formerly of Simtek and Benetton)
24. Anthony Davidson (experienced ex-F1 driver)
Lucas Di Grassi (GP2 race winner, did F3 for Manor in 2005)
25. Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
Mike Conway (GP2 race winner, currently in IndyCar)
Edoardo Mortara (GP2 race winner)

Team US F1
US F1-10 – Cosworth CA2010
26. Danica Patrick (first woman to win top single seater race, currently best American driver in IndyCar, out of contract in ‘10)
Marco Andretti (some people believe he has what it takes for F1)
Sébastien Bourdais (experienced, and a well-known name in US racing; would be cool for USF1 to link up the 4-time CART Champion with Villeneuve)
27. Graham Rahal (rumoured)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (experienced driver)
Jacques Villeneuve (he is looking for a drive; would be quite a coup by USF1 to have an Indy 500 winner and F1 WDC)

CAMPOS META TEAM COSWORTH
- Alonso
- Sainz

Surely.

BRAWN
1. Jenson Button (has shown excpetional loyalty to Brawn, would probably stick with them
2a. Rubens Barrichello (if he starts out-racing Button)
2b. Fernando Alonso (said he'd prefer Brawn to Ferrari, could bring much-needed sponsorship if Virgin depart)
2c. Robert Kubica (less than happy with BMW, very good in quick car)

RED BULL
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull won't give him up for anything; Vettel is happy)
2. Mark Webber (has proven to be quick and consistent)

TOYOTA
1. Timo Glock (under contract)
2a. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota-backed driver in Toyota team)
2b. Kazuki Nakajima (could get turfed out of Williams)

FERRARI
1. Kimi Raikkonen (under contract)
2. Felipe Massa (under contract)

WILLIAMS
1. Nico Rosberg (says he's happy with Williams, Williams say they're happy with him)
2a. Nico Hulkenberg (out-paced Nakajima in testing)
2b. Kamui Kobayashi (has Toyota backing and may be a better prospect than Nakajima)

McLAREN
1. Lewis Hamilton (has said he'd be happy to stay with McLaren for his entire career)
2a. Heikki Kovalainen (disappointing, but Hamilton is happy with him)
2b. Nico Rosberg (persistent rumours link im to the seat)
2c. Adrian Sutil (has been doing good things in Force India, and Hamilton claims to be a fan)

RENAULT
1. Fernando Alonso (Flavio won't let him go, but he wants a good drive)
2a. Nelson Piquet (victim of Briatore's management style, but has shown occasional moments of capability)
2b. Romain Grosjean (touted as Piquet's replacemet, close ties to Renault)

BMW-SAUBER
1. Robert Kubica (quick in a good car, and BMW will have learned from mistakes of 2009)
2. Nick Heidfeld (BMW represents best chance of maiden win if they can reverse their fortunes)

TORO ROSSO
1. Sebastien Buemi (might need another year with them as Bourdais isn't much of a challenge)
2. Brendon Hartley (Red Bull grooming him for race seat a la Vettel as eventual replacement for Webber)

FORCE INDIA
1. Adrian Sutil (seems content)
2a. Vitantonio Liuzzi (test driver, looked promising for drive this year)
2b. Karun Chandhok (highest-placed Indian GP2 driver, in keeping with Mallya's vision of an Indian in Formula One)

CAMPOS-META
1a. Marc Gene (experienced test driver)
1b. Pedro de la Rosa (experienced test driver)
2a. Vitaly Petrov (knows Campos, is quick, can bring sponsorship from Russia)
2b. Pastor Maldonado (most consistent GP2 driver this year)

TEAM US-F1
1. Rubens Barrichello (excpetionally experienced, invaluable to new teams)
2a. Connor Daly (name thrown about by Peter Windsor)
2b. Mario Andretti (name thrown about by the paddock)

MANOR
1. Bruno Senna (name might bring backing)
2a. Jerome d'Ambrosio (a little patchy, but might have the Right Stuff)
2b. Anthony Davidson (perrenial test-driver, looking for return to sport)

I was intrigued by the names Peter Windsor listed. They contained not only the 'usual suspects' Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal, but also young drivers like Alexander Rossi, Conor Daly, Josef Newgarden and Gabby Chaves, plus NASCAR drivers Scott Speed and Kyle Busch.

I reckon Rossi (17), Daly (17), Newgarden (18) and Chaves (15) are a tad young for F1 in 2010, although they might be interesting to keep an eye on for later seasons. Speed and Bush I find unlikely, somehow, as are perhaps Andretti and Rahal. Along with Patrick, the only name I find truly believeable is 21-year-old Jonathan Summerton:

• Won the Formula BMW USA Scholarship to race in the international series in 2005, taking 2nd at Spa and finishing 10th overall.
• Won the Hockenheim round in F3 Euroseries in 2006 on his way to 9th in the championship.
• Took 2nd in the Mexican A1GP feature race and tested a Champ Car in 2007.
• Won the Chinese A1GP feature race in and 2nd in the British sprint race en route to 12th in the 2007-'08 standings.
• Won 2 races finishing 3rd in the 2008 Atlantic Championship.
• Currently in Indy Lights as well as racing in Atlantics.

He looks like someone who could grow with USF1 over a couple of seasons.

I think that some time in the next few seasons ferrari will ditch kimi for alonso, and then massa for vettel.

But why? It's not like Alonso is consistently out-racing either of them.

Seventeen and fifteen? Almost certainly too young.

Wouldn't be surprised if both those contracts had performance clauses, and if I'm right, Kimi might find himself out of a job as he won't have racked up enough points....

Might USF1 be interested in signing Rob Wickens? He's Canadian so that's fairly close to the USA. He's also very fast.

I'd argue that this would hardly be Kimi's fault, as the F60 hasn't exactly set the world alight.

Compared to Massa in the last 4 races it actually is, only in Monaco Kimi was ahead of Massa, and with only a minimal space and time ( Kim was 3rd, Massa 4th ) between them. Spain, Massa 6, Kimi 12 - Monaco Massa 4, Kimi 3 - Turkey Massa 6, Kimi 9 and Britain Massa 4 and Kimi 8. Massa has proved that the Ferrari is capable, and he is capable of scoring points, while Kimi has not.

no way.

either alonso or vettel. not both of them (even though that'd be damn interesting as hamilton-alonso was)

You have apoint. Several, actually.

So, when are teams expected to start confirming their 2010 lineups? It's been awfully quiet now that there's no Alonso on the market for everyone to fight over. Who's the big fish this year - the one whose signature on a dotted line will set the chain of signings and sackings in motion? Kubica?

Looking at that list of teams and drivers and their contractual situations, it seems that there are awfully many drivers either without a contract for 2010 or supposedly about to be fired. With so much uncertainty, you'd think the rumour mill could do better than "Rosberg or Glock might end up at McLaren if they decide to ditch Kovalainen"...

They weren't running the second stringer at Monza, but given the conditions it wouldn't have mattered if they were.

Probably not until the season is out. We know a few - Massa, Raikkonen, Vettel - have already signed on or have multi-year contracts, but now that the war is (almost) over, everyone will want to concentrate on the racing a little before thinking about next year. There are still a lot of opportunities for drivers to prove themselves.

Indeed. Probably around Monza, when the Silly Season usually gets up to speed, we may expect new rumours.

By which time we'll all be sick of it. I'm already sick of it because I'm dumbstruck that people are so quick to believe the Spanish tabloids reporting Alonso going to Ferrari. It's a lot like the suppoed FOTA calendar that people pounced on without checking anything and taking it as gospel truth.

Is it just the internet, or are people really that stupid?

Both.

If only we could find a way to block the stupid people out ...

Anyway, question for you:
a) What do you think of the concept of Home Country All-Stars? Both US-F1 and Campos are looking to do it, but I think it's a bad idea.
b) How do you rank Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado, the two most consistent men of GP2?

a) At first thought I find it rather silly. Racing is about having the best drivers in the best cars run by the best team, not about having a Turkmen driver in a Turkmenistan-built car. However, I do understand the commercial interests in such a venture, since having either driver or team, or both, from a certain country, e.g. Spain, may have an impact on Spanish fans, and hence may be interesting for companies aimed at the Spanish market. That's why large Dutch corporations like Philips or Shell have (almost) never been interested in sponsoring Jos Verstappen or Robert Doornbos, because they're not primarily aimed at the Dutch market.
b) I'm not sure, I don't follow GP2 and other series that closely. However, I do understand that Maldodano has won races is most, if not all, of the championships he's competed in, so he may be interesting for the new teams for 2010.

Well, the problem is that they're supposedly looking at Javier Villa and Roldan Rodriguez, and there's eleven better drivers in GP2 tha Villa, and about twenty better than Rodriguez. So I don't understand why they're willing to throw away a seat on a driver based on his nationality. Accident-prone comedy can be fun, but most people think Piquet should he turfed out of Renault, and he did better than Villa (and certainly better than Rodriguez) when he was in GP2.

BRAWN
1. Jenson Button
2. Rubens Barrichello

RED BULL
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber

TOYOTA
1. Timo Glock
2. Jarno Trulli

FERRARI
1. Kimi Raikkonen
2. Felipe Massa

WILLIAMS
1. Nico Rosberg
2. Kamui Kobayashi

McLAREN
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Heikki Kovalainen

RENAULT
1. Fernando Alonso
2. Romain Grosjean

BMW-SAUBER
1. Robert Kubica
2. Nick Heidfeld

TORO ROSSO
1. Sebastien Buemi
2. Sebastian Bourdais

FORCE INDIA
1. Adrian Sutil
2. Giancarlo Fisichella

CAMPOS-META
1. Vitaly Petrov
2. Pedro de la Rosa

TEAM US-F1
1. Connor Daly
2. Mario Andretti

MANOR
1. Bruno Senna
2. Pastor Maldonado

Daly is only seventeen. I know teams are taking on nineteen and twenty year-olds, but seventeen is too young.

I'm sure Mario will be upset at being number 2. You'd think his ex-champion status would guarantee him the number 1 position!

Exactly.

There are no number ones and twos in Formula One until the end of the season. Except at Renault.

Not the 'Mario' bit in the original post.

Mario, Marco; there's one letter difference and I've got two martinis in me because my exams are over. I'm surprised I can even post straight.

Enjoy the freedom! Post-exam celebrations are usually fantastic.

I wish ... I still have a 3500-word essay to finish.

Di Montezemolo on the official Ferrari website

"Of course we have to improve everything and this is why we want to be more involved in the decisions of the sport, because we want more spectators in the circuits, tickets less expensive because today the tickets are too expensive, and to have more show.

Maybe the possibility to have some teams or all the teams to run even a third car, to have more possibility to overtake - but increasing technology research, extreme performance and overall competition."

So, Ferrari in 2010, even if a third car can't bring home the points, they will have Alonso in car number 1 and Raikkonen in car number 3,
car number 3 perhaps pointless, but conform his contract, Raikkonen races a Ferrari ;

Driver line-up Ferrari in 2010 - Alonso - Massa - Raikkonen

And McLaren and BrawnGP.

By the way, Campos wants De la Rosa or Gene to drive for him, not Villa or Rodriguez.

McLaren is a kind of unspoken number-one driver. If they had someone who could consistently challenge Hamilton, it wouldn't be the case. But every time Hamilton and Kovalainen are togehter, Kovalainen seems to be able to hold his own. He doesn't just move over and let Hmailton through.

And there are no team orders or number-ones at Brawn, either. If Brawn were forcing Barrichello to play second fiddle, why did his team keep telling him to push Button in Spain? And why did he finish ahead of Button at Silverstone?

According to Autosport.com, 19-year-old Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari is eying a 2010 STR seat.

It'll proably either be him or Hartley.

If you had to pick a driver today, not currently in F1, to drive for your team, who would you pick? Pantano? Klien? Grosjean? Hulkenberg? de la Rosa? Rossi? Bianchi? Someone else? To me there's no clear "sure thing ready for F1" driver right now.

I've side it before, and I'll say it again: Vitaly Petrov.

Yes Vitaly Petrov wouldn't be a bad choice,
3 times a champion in Russia and progresses very good in GP2!

He could be a candidate for a drive in a Campos car next year.

I've been saying that all along: he drove for Campos in 2007, so they know him. He's quick, and he's pretty consistent aside from the odd bad race (but we all have those). And he can bring in major sponsorship dollars from Russian companies. He'd be a far better investment than Javier Villa, Dani Clos or Roldan Rodriguez, none of whom are any higher than 12th in the GP2 standings. Campos would just be wasting a race seat on them.

Oliver Turvey races alongside Jaime Alguersuari in the RWS, does he not. As does Brendon Hartley, from my memory, although someone may correct me if I'm wrong. Turvey seems to be doing better than both of them.

Quick check on RWS site reveals Turvey lies in fourth place in the standings compared with 8th for Jaime and 17th for Hartley, albeit that the latter is not so representative because he's been reserve driver for Red Bull.

But surely the new teams must be looking at Turvey as well as the other two Red Bull backed drivers for a seat, considering how well he's done compared with these two highly rated talents? Personally, I've always liked Turvey.

Hartley would gel with STR about as well as Scott Speed did.

Villeneuve standing by the phone right now. Waiting for the call. Right now.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76760

ROTFL - Jacques .... you got to be kidding

I imagine the phone conversations will go something like this ...

"Listen, Jacques, it's Dave Richards. We want you to drive for us. No, I know Prodrive didn't make the grid. We've been told we're the fourth reserve team, so we're in if Renault, Toyota, BMW and someone else withdraw. A race seat you say? Actually, we had something else in mind. Test driver? Well ... I suppose you could call it that. Yes, I know there's a ban on in-season testing, but it doesn't apply in this case. No, we didn't get special provisions from the FIA. Jacques, just listen to me for a minute, okay? You want in, we have a place for you. Driving the motorhome. Take it or leave it. What? Yes, I suppose you can play your own CDs between races ..."

http://www.autosprint.it/auto/indexRivistaAutoSprint.asp

Alonso-Ferrari nel 2010
Ma c'è una grana in vista

http://www.gazzetta.it/Motori/Formula1/08-...707960509.shtml

Note that Alonso is wearing Kimi's wrist watch.

Brawn-Mercedes
1. Jenson Button
2. Rubens Barrichello

Red Bull-Renault
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber

Toyota
5. Jarno Trulli
6. Timo Glock

Ferrari
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Felipe Massa

Williams-Toyota
9. Nico Rosberg
10. Kazuki Nakajima

McLaren-Mercedes
11. Lewis Hamilton
12. Heikki Kovalainen

Renault
14. Kimi Raikkonen
15. Romain Grosjean

BMW
16. Robert Kubica
17. Nick Heidfeld

Toro Rosso-Ferrari
18. Sebastien Buemi
19. Bruno Senna

Force India-Mercedes
20. Adrian Sutil
21. Paul di Resta

USF1-Cosworth
22. Jacques Villeneuve
23. Marco Andretti

Campos-Cosworth
24. Pedro de la Rosa
25. Vitaly Petrov

Manor-Cosworth
26. Adrian Sutil
27. Adam Carroll

Ferrari
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Felipe Massa
----------


So is Kimi in a rally car next year then?