That sounds only too true. Something must still be going on behind the scenes, involving another possible candidate. And who could that be other than Räikönnen? Maybe, on a stretch, Kubica in case Renault is pulling out?

I don't get why so many think a team should announce their drivers at the same time. By splitting the announcement they get double publicity. A few days for the first driver and when the media attention turns down they announce the second driver and gain another few days of publicity.

Red Bull and yawn? Ehmm, how unexpected, and I had such high hopes... Well, we see!

The point is it's clearly wrong to not even mention Raikonnen as a Mercedes possibility.

Which confirms the expected which is that Nick is just a backup plan for Mercedes.

I agree. And it should be that way. Rosberg will make up for a very good 2nd driver. If Heidfeld joins him, it will be a top team without a top driver.

JA believes Button signed for McLaren because he was convinced they would have the better car. I doubt Raikkonen will be with Mercedes. Sabbatical it is. Besides, It's time for Heidfeld to beat another overrated driver in the same car:cool:

Don't think so.



There are no info at all - but it's indication Nick aren't first choice. And that's logical when best players still on the market.

To be fair though, Nick has more issues to work through than Nico. Nick would probably want some sort of guarantee that Mercedes wouldn't shaft him again, like they did when giving Raikkonen the McLaren drive that he had been practically nurtured for. It's these little things that need sorting that delay contracts, and Nick not being unveiled at the same time is not indicative of anything at all.

So what we have are following candidates (in no particular order):
1. Truli
2. Nick
3. Michael
4. Kimi
5. someone new in F1
6. someone else who lost the drive, and has no seat

From that lot I think Nick is a second choice (otherwise he would be confirmed now), and it's between Michael and Kimi. Dark horse is Kobayashi.

- Trulli (he'd be the worst surprise I can think of )
- Kobayashi

+ R. Schumacher (he'd qualify as a surprise...)
+ Di Resta
+ Sutil
+ Villneuve ()

1- Kubica
2- PDLR

I explain it in Mercedes GP thread

shudder

How many cars Kubica can drive in any given race? He, I thought, has a contract with Renault, and his selection would really P*** me off anyway. Pedro should go back to testing or bookkeeping. Too slow.

I don't know about that Rob.
Mercedes actually wanted Heidfeld in 2002 and it was Ron that made the choice for another Finn.
Mercedes was again powerless when they wanted McLaren to take Vettel in 2008. With Kovi they took another Finn.
Then Mercedes wanted Rosberg at McLaren in 2010. Again, no interest.
Seemed that the only way Mercedes could get a German into their car was to buy a team.

If there are issues with Nick, I suspect they have to do with the lenth of contract, since Vettel seems to be the goal.

Guys, Nick Heidfeld has signed to drive for Mercedes in 2010. It's a done deal.

McLaren should have taken Heidfield in 2008 instead of that Kovi debacle.

I think Heidfield would be glad for any seat right now since we don't even know when Sauber is going to get a slot on the grid.

Brawn doesn't need to do so until Sauber is confirmed on the grid and Nick is about to sign with them.

We are months away from that....

On second thought, I take it back. Pedro would be an excellent No. 2, while Nico is being groomed for Big Time.

I bet they thought something similar when they were negotiating with Button.

If they want Nick, I would not do that, and sign him in that case right now.
- Merry Christmas
- Self esteem
- Nerve saving guesture
- Not rushing into signing with some new teams...

I am sure there would be some other reasons...

BTW, was he released from BMW's contract yet?

He is a current Mercedes works driver so it would be an easy swap

Wow, good one picking up the scoop!

So I pressume it's Heikki to Renault?

I agree. We´ll see...... The answer, mid december i think

Doubt that- Heikki's (ex) manager is out of favour (Briatore) and actually Petrov is highly tipped for the Renault job especially if Megafon buy a stake in them............we'll see what happens.

If he's deserving of it becaus he's been waiting a long time for it, you clearly have no idea how a team is run.

Merc had no choice in Vettel. He was signed to Red Bull, (which is why BMW couldn't sign him, he was on loan).

Rosberg had the chance of McLaren in 2008, but chose Williams because his father advised against taking on Lewis in his team.

As for Nick, I suspect you are right. Ron and Mika had such a close relationship that he would have undoubtably taken his opinion as to who to sign.

'and', not 'because'.

Shite...

Only the 13th [of 26 or 28] driver confirmed.
Not even the teams [13 or 14] are confirmed.

The era of uncertainty.

Not at all. You don't give drivers a race seat for sentimental reasons. Ferrari did that with Badoer, and look how that turned out for them. Nick Heidfeld might have beaten every team-mate he's ever had, but look at where those team-mates have ended up. Raikkonen won races for McLaren and was always a title contender before finally nailing it in 2007. Mark Webber shuffled around the teams for a while, but has finally landed on Red Bull as they're coming strong, and he was a title contender all this season. Felipe Massa was quickly picked up by Ferrari and has been a consistent title challenger and race winner. And while Kubica might have gone sideways into Renault as opposed to up the food chain, Renault are a team who know how to win. It's pretty telling that Heidfeld has stayed fairly static - if he was as good as you made out, he'd be in a top car by now.

Mercedes made a mistake when they let Button slip through their fingers. But they'll be making a bigger mistake if they sign Heidfeld; doubly so if they take him on simply because he's been in the sport a long time. Rosberg is relatively untested, and if he is partnered with Heidfeld, he's really going to have to power through because he's the one the burden of responsibility will fall to. Heidfeld is just going to be lapping in the minor points. When BMW finally worked out how to make their car go quickly this year - read: Brazil - it was Kubica who rose to the occasion.

I think Nick will get the seat, and he rightly deserves it.

Globo's listing of next year's driver lineups. Confirmed names in bold letters...

http://globoesporte.globo.com/Esportes/Not...ERTAS+PARA.html

Any news of Heidflelds expected move to USGPE yet?? Rumour is rife at the moment.

Peter Windsor say: You have to shave off your weak beard Heidi.

Kimi Raikkonen "confirmed" at Mercedes for 2010?!?!?

But who knows?The worst kept secret in F1?

If Mercedes wanted Heidfeld they would have announced him yesterday so they are clearly in negotiation with Kimi or Michael or both. I think they are trying to get Schumacher, with the others secondary options.

Eh? It was 'and', not 'because'.

In which world do you live to think of possible 14 teams next year? It's rather 12 than 13, let alone 14.

prolly the same world max and bernie live in...

Some dude on Twitter said he has some reliable source that said Schumi passed a physical yesterday.

Then again, it's a random dude in a networking site with 65 followers.

I still believe that the surprise is Schumi, but in the end, if he fails, Heidfeld gets it.

Well, reading that, there's a website that lacks any credibility whatsoever!

I think they are negotiating with Kimi and Nick as a secondary option. The only reason they didn't flat out deny the MS story is that its good free PR to be associated with a possible MS comeback.

Thus the three dots there...

The world of uncertainty.

The list has not been updated for a long time.
Raikkonen was "confirmed" when the first rumors were out circulating in the media.

Exactly.
I see this situation as Globo trying to save the face of Litio Cavalcanti, the reporter that started this whole Kimi to Mercedes thing.

Globo even mentions Antonio Pizzonia as a potential driver for Manor. Ridiculous, we won't see him back in F1 unless he has a huge amount of sponsorship.

He has connections with Manor though. Won the Formula Renault championship and Formula 3 championship with them.

= never!

Edit: He name is there because it was reported at some moment that his manager contacted the Manor GP.
Edit2: Rob beat me to it.