Nah. No good for the Toyota super-team.

They need superstar + rookie: Raikkonen & Kobayashi OR Button & Kobayashi

OR two solid drivers: Heidfeld & Trulli OR Heidfeld & Kovalainen

Or "superstar" plus solid driver (in fact both are probably equal): Button & Heidfeld

Or superstar plus solid driver: Raikkonen & Heidfeld OR Raikkonen & Trulli


Raikkonen & Heidfeld would be great, a rematch


No bleeding second-rate line-up surely for the Toyota team which intends to win both titles in crushing fashion surely!?

ahem.... ....even though I detect a slight touch of sarcasm - it's still bloody funny !!!

Have we ever had a rematch in F1?
The same two drivers competing later at a different team?

Raikkonen won't drive for a team that has never won. The money that he wanted, he has already got from Alonso/Ferrari/Santander. He will be at Mclaren or he will do something else out of F1.

Alesi and Berger, Ferrari, then Benetton.

New summary (more like a REALLY LONG list) of the silly season:

Ferrari (confirmed)
Sponsors
Banco Santander (confirmed)
Engines
Ferrari (confirmed)
Race drivers
Felipe Massa (confirmed)
Fernando Alonso (confirmed)
Giancarlo Fisichella (could remain in case Massa takes longer than expected to recover)

McLaren (confirmed)
Sponsors
Vodafone (likely to stay)
Banco Santander (confirmed)
Engines
Mercedes (confirmed)
Race drivers
Lewis Hamilton (confirmed)
Kimi Raikkonen (heavily rumoured to join)
Nick Heidfeld (rumoured to join in case the Raikkonen transfer fails)
Nico Rosberg (earlier rumoured to join)
Timo Glock (earlier rumoured to join)
Heikki Kovalainen (unlikely to remain)

Renault (confirmed and apparently committed now)
Sponsors
unknown
Engines
Renault (confirmed)
Race drivers
Robert Kubica (confirmed)
Timo Glock (heavily rumoured to join)
Adrian Sutil (rumoured to join)
Heikki Kovalainen (rumoured to join)
Nick Heidfeld (rumoured to join)
Franck Montagny (rumoured to join)
Romain Grosjean (unlikely to remain)
Lucas Di Grassi (connected to the team but very unlikely)
Bruno Senna (will test for them in the winter, but very unlikely)

Toyota (contracted, but it's still not impossible they could pull out)
Sponsors
Panasonic (likely to stay)
Engines
Toyota (confirmed)
Race drivers
Kamui Kobayashi (uncertain to stay)
Timo Glock (uncertain to stay)
Kimi Raikkonen (rumoured to join)
Heikki Kovalainen (rumoured to join)
Jarno Trulli (likely to leave)
Kazuki Nakajima (connected to the team but unlikely)
Sebastian Buemi (rumoured to join but unlikely)


Toro Rosso (confirmed)
Sponsors
Red Bull (likely to stay)
Engines
Ferrari (likely to stay)
Race drivers
Sebastien Buemi (confirmed)
Jaime Alguersuari (confirmed)


Red Bull (confirmed)
Sponsors
Red Bull (confirmed)
Engines
Renault (uncertain to stay)
Cosworth (rumoured to join)
Mercedes (apparently no longer a possibility, vetoed by McLaren)
Race drivers
Sebastian Vettel (confirmed)
Mark Webber (confirmed, but with a chance he'd be dropped for Kimi)
Kimi Raikkonen (rumoured to join but unlikely)


Williams (confirmed)
Sponsors
AT&T (uncertain to stay)
Petronas (rumoured to join)
Engines
Cosworth (heavily rumoured to join)
Renault (rumoured to join)
Mercedes (rumours died some time ago)
Race drivers
Nico Hulkenberg (heavily rumoured to join)
Rubens Barrichello (heavily rumoured to join)
Nico Rosberg (unlikely to stay)
Kazuki Nakajima (unlikely to stay)
Heikki Kovalainen (earlier rumoured to join)
Vitaly Petrov (earlier rumoured to join)


Brawn (confirmed)
Sponsors
Emirates Airline (earlier rumoured to join)
Monster energy drink (earlier rumoured to join)
Bwin (earlier rumoured to join)
Telmex (earlier rumoured to join)
Engines
Mercedes (likely not only to stay but to also buy stakes in the team)
Race drivers
Jenson Button (likely to stay)
Nico Rosberg (heavily rumoured to join)
Kimi Raikkonen (earlier rumoured to join)
Rubens Barrichello (unlikely to stay)
Timo Glock (rumoured to join but unlikely)


Force India (confirmed, outside chance it'll change ownership)
Sponsors
Kingfisher (likely to stay)
Engines
Mercedes (likely to stay)
Race drivers
Adrian Sutil (likely to stay)
Vitantonio Liuzzi (likely to stay)
Vitaly Petrov (earlier rumoured to join already in 2009 to replace Liuzzi)
Karun Chandhok (earlier rumoured to join)
Timo Glock (has contacted the team)


Manor (confirmed, name likely to change to Virgin)
Sponsors
Virgin (heavily rumoured to join)
Engines
Cosworth (confirmed)
Race drivers
Lucas Di Grassi (heavily rumoured to join)
Álvaro Parente (rumoured to join)
Adam Carroll (rumoured to join)
Esteban Guerrieri (rumoured to join)
Bruno Senna (rumoured to join)
Christian Klien (rumoured to join)
Anthony Davidson (rumoured to join)
Max Chilton (earlier rumoured to join)


Campos Meta (confirmed)
Sponsors
Telefonica (rumoured to join)
BBVA (rumoured to join)
Engines
Cosworth (confirmed)
Race drivers
Bruno Senna (heavily rumoured to join)
Pedro de la Rosa (earlier thought to have signed a contract)
Nelson Piquet Jr (rumoured to join)
Pastor Maldonado (rumoured to join)
Vitaly Petrov (rumoured to join)
Marc Gene (rumoured to join)


USF1 (confirmed, but with rumours that they're behind schedule and might not make it to the grid)
Sponsors
Youtube (rumoured but mostly out of misinterpretation of an investor's involvement)
Engines
Cosworth (confirmed)
Race drivers
Pedro de la Rosa (rumoured to join)
Alexander Wurz (rumoured to join)
Jonathan Summerton (rumoured to join)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (rumoured to join)
JR Hildebrand (rumoured to join)
José María López (rumoured to join)
Jacques Villeneuve (rumoured to join)


Lotus (confirmed)
Sponsors
Petronas (rumoured but unlikely)
Engines
Cosworth (confirmed)
Race drivers
Jarno Trulli (heavily rumoured to join)
Heikki Kovalainen (rumoured to join)
Fairuz Fauzy (rumoured to join)
Alex Yoong (rumoured to join)
Bruno Senna (rumoured to join)
Timo Glock (rumoured to join but unlikely)


Sauber/Qasdak (name to be confirmed, team running for a 14th spot which seems increasingly less likely)
Sponsors
Petronas (uncertain to stay)
Engines
Ferrari (confirmed)
Race drivers
Nick Heidfeld (uncertain to stay)
Christian Klien (connected to the team, might join as a race driver)
Timo Glock (has contacted the team)

You might want to add that brewery connected with Barichello and likely to support Williams, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Man, i want Sauber to get a save spot in 2010 - NOW! As a guaranteed 14th team or because one of the new teams announces they wont make it, either way... i dont care. Would be such a huge shame not to have them in 2010.

Has the silly season ever been as silly as it is this year?

Anyone heard anything about Di Resta?

I think that's the biggest silly season ever.

Only 11 drivers [publicly] confirmed with 1 race to go.
1 team not confirmed [Sauber]
1 WDc not confirmed [Kimi]

Anthony Davidson has to join the grid next year he is TOO good technically and speed wise not to be there. It be a shame if he isn't.

But his commentry is fantastic!! so maybe i should hope he doesn't drive in F1 (joking)

This is the piece from yesterday's L'Equipe, yes?

If so it basically says that Renault are talking to Frank Montagny about racing for them alongside Kubica next season.

Makes good sense to me - renault haven't built a championship winning car since dumping him as development driver.

Manor may not be known as Virgin; a few sources are reporting that Richard Branson may stay with Brawn and will make a decision after Abdu Dhabi.

Lloyd's TSB has also been linked with Manor, though the nature of the deal is unknown since it's only in the preliminary phase.

But he doesn't have any sponsorship.

The Lloyds thing is only an investment into the team, not sponsorship as far as I recall. If it was sponsorship, it would cause them big, big PR problems as the company is effectively owned by the government and public money was used to salvage bits of it. Using public money to sponsor vanity projects like F1 would NOT be popular.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/10/21/...-manor-in-2010/

I don't see anything about sponsorship there though.

Read this

I really hope that Sauber will be safe, the team has a long tradition and deserves a place. With Ferrari partnership and the latest development could be a very strong midfiled and points contender.

About the drivers i think that (as said Domenicali) the Ferrari connection could bring Fisi in a seat, the other could be Heidfeld. With the new rules a strong and experienced team.

arent Philip Morris going to stay on with Ferrari?

No-one is really sure what their involvement is going to be. In addition to having Malboro logs on the car, they own the actual space on the car, so Santander would have to pay them for advertising space, I think.

Glock might go to Renault, that what I listened to yesterday.

The contract end only in 2011, only then Santander will replace it.
AFAIK, for now, Santander is buying space on the car from Philip Morris.
That's why we've heard of Santander being the 'main' sponsor and not the title sponsor.



I guess the picture right now is:

If Raikkonen goes to Toyota, Heidfeld goes to McLaren and Glock to Reanult.
If he goes to McLaren, Heidfeld can end at Renault and Glock could stay at Toyota.

But I guess that Glock to Renault is almost certain.

This is all set already.

What about Heikki? now that Glock is set to go to Renault.

They may have a deal worked out similar to Williams' one. AT&T are the title sponsor, but I can't for the life of me think of where an AT&T logo appears. If one does, it's certainly been superseded by Phillips, RBS and AirAsia, so I suspect AT&T owns the space.

What makes you think this is almost certain? From what I've heard Sutil is Renault's first choice and other sources mention that Heidfeld and Montagny are also in the frame. So how can you be almost certain with so many drivers beiing linked to Renault?

Maybe Renault will run 3 cars in 2010 and that is the shock that Noble on twitter mentioned some time ago ;)

About Manor, I just heard from rather reliable source that they will confirm Alvaro Parente in few days. Their second driver will be chosen after first test (in December or January/February?) and third driver will be some Briton.

I guess so, or even another different kind of deal.


I don't know.


Lets say that I'm not certain. Looks like.

But I guess that Heidfeld, from the Germans, is the one with less chances. Be it because of lack of interesting in repeating the BMW duo, demands or something else.
If there was nothing holding Renault, he'd be already signed.

Glock, IMHO, would be the best ROI.
Plus, Toyota doesn't seam too keen about retaining him.
And there're talks/rumors about a done deal with Glock.

Montagny, B. Senna, Di Grassi, etc... As I see it, they are reserve options in case everything fails.

when/where was this (the fact that Glock to Renault 2010 is a done deal) confirmed?

That would be great news for portugal. Lets see if it turns out to be true. Parente is a genuine talent.

About Mercedes:

No Mercedes engine for Red Bull.
Mclaren negociations with Raikonnen fails because of his wages pretention.
Heikki Kovalaien and Heidfeld are fighting for the second Mclaren seat.

About Renault:
Montagny's manager tried to creat a buzz because he has been received by Renault's boss however it's the same situation for manager's of Sutil,Glock,Heidfeld,Kovalainen,Senna and Grosjean.Renault will take a lot of time before their decision.


http://blog.autoplus.fr/moncet/2009/10/21/...ans-importance/

if they can't get kimi, please... please take heidfeld! *fingers crossed*

Peter Windsor did express interest in signing him for USF1 (sorry can't find the link)

Heidfeld would be a perfect fit at McLaren, and deserves it. Would be poetic justice if he got it over kimi after 2002 haha.

Though I do want to see Kimi in a competitive car, saying that.

So in all this musical chairs of divers what of Rosberg? I have heard nothing about him!

Did you miss the Rosberg to Brawn rumours?

I hope forehead strikes are forbiden in this fight, otherwise Heidfeld has no chances.

That was over a week ago and I have heard nothing since, well nothing new anyways. Rumour has RB possibly staying put. So yes I have heard the rumours, but nothing new. Is that his ONLY option? Sure seems that way

I don't think Rosberg has to worry - unlike Heidfeld e.g. According to rumours he's either save at Williams or Brawn, same goes for Barichello vice versa.

Trulli was teammates with Zonta and Panis at Toyota having previously been teammates with them at Jordan and Prost respectively.

That's really not in line with what Whitmarsh said on BBC after the Singapore GP.

"We wanna have the best two drivers in our car we can. It's as simple as that." "We aspire to be a top team so we want the best drivers in Formula 1".

The BBC interview

This topic (kimi's next career move) is just coming up again and again here, understandably. Hope it's resolved soon, and that may trigger other moves. I thought Alonso's move would get things moving but Kimi's stalled the market again.

That was a while ago, and Heidfeld is on Raikkonen's level, so it doesn't necessarily contradict what he says.

With all respect, that may be debateable (well certainly here anyway!).

Heidfeld would bring far more to Mclaren than Kimi .

Perfect fit as you say
Perfect for Lewis as well [ massive experience to learn from , one of the most underrated drivers on the grid ]

Sorry, but riding around in McLarens being called the fastest man in F1 for no real reason doesn't make you a level higher than anyone else.

Yes, everyone is waiting for Kimi to make move. And, as far as I am concerned, I'd like to see him in Toyota. That would be great for Toyota. And, Heidfeld in McLaren is not bad option for McLaren at all. Quick Nick can be really quick, and what is more important is very consistent and would do a lot better then Kovalainen.

You're entitled to hold that opinion. It just doesn't coincide with mine.

I honestly wouldn't like to second guess Kimi, the man is a law unto himself and gives very little away.