Kimi and Jenson didn't have the necessary results to get a superlicense, but they were granted one anyway. As I recall Kimi was even given a sort of "provisional" license for his first six GPs.

Nothing's impossible.

And as for his talent... his racing career in Europe wasn't bad at all. Finished F3 EuroSeries above his team-mate Buemi who everyone is pretty much agreed has done a sterling job this season. Don't see why Summerton couldn't get the job done.

Or maybe it was a mistake.

I have heard that the FIA are trying to make progress on that front. They want to have a fourteenth team if it is possible, and McLaren have said they'll support the idea if and only if that fourteenth team is the remains of Sauber. QADBAK Investments owns Notts County FC, and when news broke that the were purchasing Sauber and were Notts' buyers through Munto Finance, they were subject to an investigation by the Football Association. They passed; the organisation is apparently made up of a lot of shell companies, but the only thing they are protecting are the ultimate owners, who seem to be people who value their privacy. Those who conducted the audit allegedly signed non-disclosure agreements, but the company is apparently perfectly legit and the Rothschild bank has vouched for them as a perfectly reputable organisation. My guess is that they represent the interests of families in the Middle East who are averse to having their ethnicity made public for fear - perhaps not misplaced - that they would lose business because of the public's distrust of Muslims.

However, while the FIA are pushing for it, Williams are said to be digging their heels in. They simply don't think that fourteen teams is logistically possible.

Good point. He was/is rumoured to be in frame, though.



What Ringo said.


Wow, that's the first time in over 8 years on the board I've been called a fanboy. Thanks!


What he said. I fixed it, too.

Point taken

The rumour is Trulli and Sato at Lotus with Fauzy as reserve driver.

That sounds plausible. Got a link?

Brundle was spouting this on BBC yesterday

Added Sato to the Lotus list.

Sato won't be at any team unless he brings a ton of money, something he used to have from Honda, and he now he has not.

If Kamui Kobayashi is as good as his performance so far has shown, he may increase interest in Formula One in Japan, particularly sponsor interest. With Toyota being a works team and Panasonic taking prominence on the car, Japanese sponsors may be interested if there's an experienced Japanese driver joining a brand new and - more importantly - sponsorless team. Plus, Lotus is getting backing from the Malaysian government, so while a driver who can bring sponsorship would be nice, it may not be absolutely necessary.

Rosberg will join Brawn according to this website: http://925.nl/archief/2009/11/02/nicki-ros...2+november+2009

they claim the deal was done 3 weeks ago, mclaren Mercedes had an option of buying brawn and it expired 1st of november. also they've been told: ‘No, you can’t publish anything until you have spoken to anyone of the marketing or press.’

I'm beginning to wonder if the Brawn announcement will coincide with a McLaren announcement. So that the Mercedes runners are all announced together. Not sure if FI would play any part though.

btw: the source seems to be a possible future Dutch investor in the company.

Emirates??? Could you give me a link? I haven't heard anything about this rumour.

Well, it's quite an old rumour, but Google on "Emirates Brawn" and you'll find a couple of links.

Mercedes had an option to buy the entire BrawnGP??? Wow, that's superb news that this expired yesterday. But I'm hoping Mercedes will be buying the 75% of BrawnGP.

Interesting... from @willbuxton on twitter

Interesting who you bump into at crap airports. Just found out FMaster champion Leimer in talks with Toyota F1 prob for 3rd driver role.



He's been quick in GP2 testing and was top three in GP2 Asia qualifying... maybe one to watch.

it seems they did have the option, but missed the deadline but they could have agreed to extend the deadline.

What a turnaround after the last 12 months...

Euhm, they ARE getting number 5 and 6. What were you expecting? 3 and 4

Yet he's scored a grand total of ZERO Points in Abu Dhabi, where his teammate FMaster Rookie Alex Rossi finished 4th and 5th. Being fast in testing and qualifying is one thing, but he hasn't shown any results yet.

McLaren can still get 1&2, 5&6 or 7&8 depending where button goes.

Yet another empty pocket big mouth from Holland.

That would be a fantastic line-up for Lotus!

lustigson - often been said that Marco Andretti also has a shot at the usf1 slot - but not on your list?

From what I've read Leimer was rammed in one of the races and stalled in the other.

@ Lobato's blog:
-Toni Cuquerella leaves BMW-Sauber to join Campos
-Campos won't have any Spanish driver for 2010

probably. but there are some people/company's that can afford it. heineken, randstad(currently sonsoring williams) for instance.

After all, it may well be that the rumors that Bernie was trying to put Piquet alongside Senna were not BS.

On which website can @ Lobota's blog be read ?

his last name is NOT Cucarella.
Hope Kubi would take him to Renault - the guy is too good for some s#!tty Campos... {edit} although I know it is not up to RK {/edit}

Here

[lecture mode on]
Regarding the history of Dutchies:
In The Netherlands there isn't much support for Spyker or Christian Albers, because both of them were considered to be people who got to the top by things other than hard work (they both originated from an era considered to be the Beverly Hills / Hamptons of The Netherlands), and their general behavior and looks were considered arrogant and superficial by many Ducthies.

Things we are proud of here: Lammers, Verstappen (after he started avoiding gravel pits and before slapping his wife), Zandvoort.

But believe it or nor, we'd rather be proud on a foreogn driver / team (especially Schumacher, Hakkinen, Hamilton, McLaren, Ferrar) than on a Dutch team.

Our relative (not in sheer numbers) F1 audience might be as high as the British

[lecture mode off]
Regarding the investor
You do realise that some of the most wealthiest companies and persons are from The Netherlands?

*Heineken
*Shell (that is why it is called Royal Shell)
*Randstad
*ING
*Many other financial institutes
*Lots of (main or continental) HQ of foreign companies seeing to expand in The Netherlands

Now, those empty pockets isn't completely true don't you think?

Strangely Ferrari is not concerned, McLaren's guy said he will vote for 14th team only if it is Sauber, so the question to ask Williams, what's your real problem, Charlie?

Sauber will be Heidfeld and Petrov.
Bernie said they will be there.
Usually, what Bernie wants, Bernie gets.

Medal system?

Because the medal system had NOTHING to do with money.

Brawn-Mercedes
1. Jenson Button
2. Nico Rosberg

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

McLaren-Mercedes
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari
7. Felipe Massa
8. Fernando Alonso

Toyota
9. Heikki Kovalainen
10. Kamui Kobayashi

Qadbak-Ferrari
11. Nick Heidfeld
12. Giancarlo Fisichella

Williams-Cosworth
14. Rubens Barrichello
15. Nico Hulkenberg

Renault
16. Robert Kubica
17. Timo Glock

Force India-Mercedes
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi (maybe Karun Chandhok)

Toro Rosso-Ferrari
20. Sebastien Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari

Campos-Cosworth
22. Bruno Senna
23. Vitaly Petrov

Manor-Cosworth
24. Anthony Davidson
25. Lucas di Grassi

Lotus-Cosworth
26. Jarno Trulli
27. Fairuz Fauzy

I now don't think USF1 will make it to the grid.

speak for yourself!
edit: highlighted the main thing i'm not proud of

Assen and the Dutch TT

Wtf?! Must be a typo, no?! McLaren buying Brawn?!

In his post-race interview on german TV Rosberg sounded as if he got a deal done 100% and is just waiting for the day he can officially confirm that. Seemed as he was quite annoyed that the announcement is delayed.

My bad, Cuquerella it is. Fixed

The deadline was for Mercedes to buy 100% of Brawn.

yep, meant mercedes. sorry

What-exactly-are Brawn waiting for? Will we have an announcement tomorrow? (regarding Rosberg,of course) I mean now that the Rubens deal is confirmed I see no reason for them to keep everybody waiting...

They are waiting for Jenson. He started the negoations with BrawnGP but they're going to sit down and talk about the contract from now on. It very likely that Jenson stays, but Brawn said they would announce this 2 weeks after the Abu Dhabi GP. +- 2 weeks (cause of RoC, holiday, etc.)

thanks rodlamas

What new information do you have that makes this seem the case or is this just standard "I haven't heard any news from them for a while, so they must have gone south" bull that everyone posts about the new teams?

Those rumours are a couple of months (!) old, IIRC. Therefor I left Andretti, Rahal et al off the list.