My guess as well. I suspect the deal is done since Heikki was all smiles and relaxed on MTV3 yesterday. As was Raikkonen by the way.

True. I don't think Kubica's reputation is sufficiently established that he can afford to look indifferent against a driver known to be below par. He's in danger of burying his career, he ought to be asking to be paired with the strongest driver available.

I have the impression that HK's career is only going downhill from now on... he won't be back at Renault or any other big them IMO

HK's career has gone downhill ever since he joined McLaren.

Emirates Brawn Mercedes
Brawn BGP 002 – Mercedes FO108X (Mercedes rumourd in (partly) take-over)
Team Principal: Ross Brawn ; Technical Director: Ross Brawn (?)
1. Jenson Button (negotiations for new contract ongoing, with money an issue)
2. Nico Rosberg (likely dependent on Mercedes deal)
Rubens Barrichello (one more season; may depend on Button's negotiations)
Kimi Räikkönen (rumoured if Rosberg goes to McLaren)

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull RB6 – Renault RS27 (currently) / Mercedes FO108X (likely due to Mercedes' dismissal of a Williams deal)
Team Principal: Christian Horner; Technical Director: Adrian Newey
3. Sebastian Vettel (on a multi-year deal until '11, with an option for '12)
4. Mark Webber (re-signed for '10)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (Santander title sponsor?)
Ferrari F2010 – Ferrari 056
Team Principal: Stefano Domenicali ; Technical Director: Aldo Costa
5. Felipe Massa (contracted until ‘10)
Giancarlo Fisichella (signed testing deal; may be recruted for race team if Massa's not fit)
6. Fernando Alonso (3-year deal '10-'12)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren MP4-25 – Mercedes FO108X
Team Principal: Martin Whitmarsh ; Technical Director: Paddy Lowe, Neil Oatley
7. Lewis Hamilton (contracted until '12)
8. Kimi Räikkönen (highly likely with Alonso-Ferrari now confirmed)
Nico Rosberg (rumoured for McLaren since 2008, now poised for Brawn)
Heikki Kovalainen ('10 option not taken up)
Gary Paffet (long-time McLaren test driver)

Panasonic Toyota Racing
Toyota TF110 – Toyota RVX-10
Team Principal: Tadashi Yamashina ; Technical Director: Pascal Vasselon
9. Timo Glock ('10 option not taken up; free to look elsewhere)
Heikki Kovalainen (possibly)
10. Kamui Kobayashi (current test driver)
Jarno Trulli (a new deal is unlikely, according to team bosses)
Kazuki Nakajima (allegedly has a long-term Toyota deal, but may not have the ultimate skill to make in in the big time)
Kimi Räikkönen (rumoured, though unlikely)

AT&T Williams
Williams FW32 – Renault RS27 (preferred option for the team, dependent on Red Bull choice, and whether Kubica is taken up by Renault) / Cosworth CA2010 (becoming more and more likely)
Team Principal: Frank Williams ; Technical Director: Sam Michael, Patrick Head
11. Rubens Barrichello (Williams said they’d like an experienced driver in ‘10)
12. Nico Hülkenberg (test driver and 2009 GP2 champion; most likely)
Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
Kazuki Nakajima (current driver, likely dependent on Toyota power)

Renault F1 Team (team's future in doubt due to Singapore 2008 cheat; Briatore and Symonds fired/quit, David Richards said to be in the picture as team boss)
Renault R30 – Renault R27
Team Principal: David Richards (rumoured) ; Technical Director: unknown
14. Robert Kubica (confirmed for 2010)
15. Heikki Kovalainen (may return to the French team)
Lucas Di Grassi (long time Renault development and test driver; admired by David Richards)
Romain Grosjean (replaced Piquet mid-season)

Force India F1 Team
Force India VJM03 – Mercedes FO108X
Team Principal: Vijay Mallya ; Technical Director: James Key
16. Adrian Sutil (another year; where would he go otherwise?)
Bruno Senna (said he's in talks with the team)
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (allegedly has '10-'11 deal)
Karun Chandhok (after another GP2 season, he gets the nod from Mallya; will test McLaren simulator)
Neel Jani (Swiss with Indian father, will test McLaren simulator)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Roso STR5 – Ferrari 056 (Ferrari contract allegedly runs until ‘10) / Renault R27 (if Red Bull-Mercedes comes to fruition)
Team Principal: Franz Tost ; Technical Director: Giorgio Ascanelli
18. Sébastien Buemi (hard to see him dropped after some solid drives)
19. Jaime Alguersuari, jr. (replaced Bourdais mid-season '09, likely to stay on)
Brendon Hartley (Red Bull junior driver and tester)
Neel Jani (finally he gets his chance, but 2 Swiss drivers at STR?)

Telefónica Campos Meta Team
Campos CM10 – Cosworth CA2010 (Dallara-designed and -built car)
Team Principal: Adrián Campos ; Technical Director: Daniel Audetto
20. Pedro de la Rosa (experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Marc Gené (rumoured)
21. Vitaly Petrov (although Russian, he drove for Campos/Barwa in GP2 successfully, and brings sponsorship, too)
Bruno Senna (said he's in talks with the team)
José Maria López (rumoured)

Virgin Manor F1 Team (likely renamed Virgin F1 Team)
Manor BW01 (Virgin VF1-10) – Cosworth CA2010 (car designed and built by Nick Wirth, formerly of Simtek and Benetton)
Team Principal: John Booth (of Manor Grand Prix) / Alex Tai (of Virgin) ; Technical Director: Nick Wirth
22. Anthony Davidson (experienced ex-F1 driver)
Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
23. Bruno Senna (said he's in talks with the team; would be dream name for Virgin)
Nelson Piquet (Booth allegedly stated he would consider him)
Lucas Di Grassi (GP2 race winner, did F3 for Manor in 2005)

Best Buy Team US F1
US F1-10 – Cosworth CA2010 (contracted) / Toyota RVX-10 (rumoured)
Team Principal: Peter Windsor ; Technical Director: Ken Anderson
24. Alex Wurz (although Austrian, experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Pedro de la Rosa (although Spanish, experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Franck Montagny (rumoured although French, has some experience)
25. Ryan Hunter-Reay (experienced driver)
Jonathan Summerton (oft-rumoured, but still young)

1Malaysia Lotus F1 Team
Lotus 110 – Cosworth CA2010
Team Principal: Tony Fernandes ; Technical Director: Mike Gascoyne
26. Jarno Trulli (rumoured)
27. Alex Yoong (experienced and, well, Malaysian)
Fairuz Fauzy (Malaysian)
Bruno Senna (they'd wish)

Sauber F1 Team (BMW-owned team did not sign 2010-2012 Concorde Agreement, but obtained '14th place'; talks on allowing 14 teams in 2010 ongoing)
Sauber C25 – Ferrari 056 (again with Petronas badge?)
Team Principal: Lionel Fischer (of QADBAK) / Peter Sauber (unlikely) ; Technical Director: Willy Rampf
28. Nick Heidfeld (contracted for '09; may stay on)
29. Christian Klien (current test driver; could make for a typically sound Sauber line-up with Heidfeld)
Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari tester; comes with the engine deal)

AS (probably just a rumor) reports Campos has reached an agreement with Bruno Senna (+ Petrobras money) and it will be announced soon.

Nice job, but what's your fixation to Paffet? McLaren are hardly going to replace their 2nd driver with their 4th. Or, in pseudo-mathematical notation: HK > PdlR > GP.

"Just bumped into Bruno Senna. He says reports he has signed a deal for next year are wrong - but he says he is close"

http://twitter.com/NobleF1/statuses/4924436594

Very likely regardless of what he's saying himself...

According to Turun Sanomat Toyota has lost hope on Raikkonen – and Kubica obviously – and is now after Buemi.

http://www.ts.fi/f1/sahkeet/81625.html

I bet they regret bad mouthing Trulli now.

Toyota never had any hope of Raikkonen. For the amount of money they've spent, they surely should have produced a dominant car by now. For Howett (who, IMO, is the most daft person in F1 today) to suggest that Toyota had any chance at Raikkonen or Kubica, or that top drivers would be "foolish" to not consider Toyota, is just ridiculous.

It's not a good move for Buemi to go to Toyota. I think he's got talent, but he needs at least a couple more years of experience to put it all together. Toyota will not provide a good environment for him to do so.

He'd be better off staying at Toro Rosso. There, he wouldn't have the pressure of having to deliver top results, but would have the pressure of outperforming other young and inexperienced teammates and showing the maturity in his driving compared with other young drivers. (Not to mention that he will have the pressure of a number of very talented young drivers behind him in the Red Bull young driver prospect pool to keep him honest.) Red Bull has set up STR well to focus on the individual drivers' progress.

Toyota should retain Glock and be very happy about it. He's a very good driver with excellent race pace and has done very well for the team despite having an inconsistent car and poor leadership from the top. He works very hard and has a great attitude. They're not going to get anyone better than him. Frankly they should feel lucky that so many other top young drivers are on the market this year, otherwise there's a good chance he would have been snapped up by a superior team already. (Not that there isn't a good chance of it still happening.)

And not taking up Glock's option.

They had a good driver pairing, and they've blown it. It's a typical event in the undignified F1 career of the daft John Howett.

Yep, they should have stuck w/ both drivers for one more year. They certainly won't progress w/ noobie drivers next year... I get the feeling they won't be on the grid in Bahrain.

Toyota is probably the biggest failure in F1 ever! How come those guys can't make a decent car with all that money?

It's because - like Honda - they insist on running the team by committee. It's the Japanese business model, where the decisions are made by a group, not by an individual. And when you start making decisions are a group, you start making compromises to accomodate the wishes of individuals within that group so that everyone is happy.

Tbh, Matsuda is a very capable driver. Saw a good part of last years F-Nippon championship and he really is fast.

F-Nippon has had his share of clunker drivers, but some really deserved a fair shot. Satoshi Motoyama (5 time F-Nippon champ) should've had more than just a mere test at Jordan.

Wow, they're really taking advantage of the glut in the drivers market.

You never know: a raw driver mightbe a better fit for Toyota than a refined one.

The problem with Toyota is their management-by-committee style. It's in keeping with the Japanese business model, but it's totally wrong for Formula One. When you make decisions by committee, you start making compromises, and when you start making compromises in Formula One, you get what Toyota have. Now, drafting a star driver may well get them the odd win, but by taking on younger, less refined drivers who have expeirence but have not unlocked their full potential, they can be raised within the Toyota climate, which would be better in the long run.

Read what you just wrote. The first half of the paragraph is the same thing everyone has said since the beginning of time about Toyota (which I do not contest; that's fine). The second half, though- about "raising a driver in the management-by-committee style"- makes zero sense. How will "raising" a driver in that climate going to affect their abilities as a driver, particularly if it results in compromises? The statement gives the appearance of reasoned analysis, but actually makes zero sense.

My reasoning is that if Toyota got a start driver like Raikkonen, there would be that collision between his expectations of the environement and the actual environment of the team. But if Toyota got someone like Buemi - some experience, but without a fully-realised potential - they could bring him up in that environment that they have and get the most out of him. Perhaps saying that management-by-committee doesn't work is the wrong way of saying it. Management-by-committee is not the best way of running a team. If it didn't outright work, Toyota wouldn't have those podium finishes. I don't know whether the difference in ledaership styles is so great that it is felt even at a level with the drivers, but it can't hurt. After all, raising a driver within the team from the beginning worked for McLaren with Hamilton and Red Bull with Vettel. Buemi is still young enough - and with Red Bull being locked out, he'll have a job getting promoted - that it won't matter too much, and Kobayashi is already a Toyota driver.

Just curious what compromises Toyota did this year?

I can't say for certain, but I'm talking about stuff like allocating the budget, when to introduce aero upgrades and that sort of thing.

Buemi??

Toyota have lost it. I think they have resigned themselves to be backmackers till they can pull out. Kobayashi looks like getting a seat next year and now with Buemi they will have a really inexperienced and pretty bad pair for next year.

Buemi has got talent but why the hell would they choose him over Trulli or Glock. They are mental.

Well, next year won't be an issue.

BTW what budget cap will be next season - 40M pounds?

There is no budget cap

It is said that in Japan the Toyota people there would like Trulli for next year but back in Germany John Howett has his heart set on getting rid of Trulli and highlights Spa as a reason - yeah there never has been incidents at the start at La Source.
Glock was criticised for his qualifying performance, I wonder how they would do in qualifying with no Trulli, would the replacement driver be closer to Glock or Trulli who is probably the best in the business.

John Howett has lost the plot, bad mouths both drivers, talks about getting either Kubica or Raikkonen, how drivers would be foolish to not go to Toyota and they all reject Toyota.

Toyota in Japan should replace John Howett and get in a new signing there, he has done a poor job and is trying to look pro-active by putting the blame elsewhere.

Trulli would be better off with Gascoyne at the way Howett is going...

If history has taught us anything, it's that if Toyota say they'll be back, they'll be back. Even if rumours say they won't be.


What are you talking about? There's not going to be a budget cap; we've known that since Hungary.

Miss that.

There's been talk of a difference of opinion between John Howett and the bosses back in Japan but does anyone know where Tadashi Yamashina (who is the team principal) or Pascal Vasselon ('Senior General Manager Chassis') stand?

You should add Piquet at Campos (Adrián said he was a possibility), Buemi at Toyota (rumoured), Guerrieri at Manor (priority until November 5th) and Jacques Villeneuve at US (has contacts with the team)

John Howlett just said Kimi hasn't said no to Toyota yet.

Said that Kimi's management want more money but he thinks they've made him a good offer.

Yamashina, I don't know but he showed up in Japan to celebrate the 2nd place with the team unlike Howett....
Trulli and Vasselon get on well and it helps that Trulli is a fluent French speaker.

That's nothing but PR talk.

Has Bruno Senna confirmed his seat yet? I know there was an interview with him on the BBC earlier but I missed it.

I'm sure Kimi's manager is very interested in the percentage cut he'll get if he signs a deal with Toyota.

With no refuelling and Bridgestone's inky pinky compounds most of the new teams have an uphill task,I reckon. Teams that have struggled this year to make the tyres work probably have it slightly easier next year,but imagine the plight of those that have zero experience.

Considering all this,I think Nick Heidfeld is seriously underestimated to be overlooked for a solid race seat next season: imagine what a guy that has spent two seasons driving around in cars filled to the brim with fuel could do with a good car. Add to this his ability to manage his tyres better than most others and his consistency: a string of podiums and maybe a win here and there would make him a possible WDC contender.

I'd like to think Ross Brawn will now do everything in his power to keep JB. Championship's over; it's time to start thinking about next season.

Quite frankly, I am not sure from Räikkönen's perspective TOYOTA can make a good offer, hence Räikkönen's counter offer may well have been absolutely outlandish and never intended as something TOYOTA would seriously consider.

Williams opt for Cosworth, says Autosport.

It seems Campos is still considering Piquet and has still no signed contract with de la Rosa

What's happening with Heidfeld???

Does anyone have any news. There's hardly anything on him as far as transfer market is concerned .

Now F1Enigma says Petrobras in talk with Williams again. They spent a lot on track branding here this year. Looks like we will see RB a lot on TV here during 2010.

I heard it's the other way around.
DoLoRosa has a contract [testing] with McLaren for next year and the money he will get is higher than what Campos is offering him.

Glock won't stay at Toyota. He will move to Renault, next to Kubica.

Grosjean will be left without a drive and di Grassi will probably be at Manor.

Fry: "He wants to be with us and we'd like him to stay, so that is a good starting point. From that position then usually compromises can be found"
Further quote: "We've got to do a bit of negotiation but we want him to stay, and I know he wants to stay" "I wouldn't like to say how far apart we are in money terms, but it's a bridge that can be crossed"

He's staying.

From Turun Sanomat:

"Timo Glock is finalising a deal with Renault for next season. Howett has been dissapointed with Glock's performance which has been too flailing. Howett was reluctant to hold on to Glock and instead concentrated on signing Kubica and Raikkonen. Kubica however went to Renault and Toyota does not interest Raikkonen."

http://www.ts.fi/f1/uutiset/82169.html

it's late and i'm tired, so even mistakes like these make me

Guess I tried to type a bit too fast there...

oh crap, now i've got the giggles.
Timi Clock. Sounds so non-theatning.

His times would be interesting, would he be steady, slow or go fast....