A dreary Monday was topped off with the news of my new favourite sport. The F1!
Well, Brawn have been taken over by Mercedes, and been rebranded 'Mercedes GP'. And that could very well spell the end of Jenson Button at Brawn/Mercedes. But if Mercedes now own 75% of Brawn, what happens to McLaren-Mercedes Well McLaren have to buy back the remaining 40% from Mercedes before the 2011 season, costing a rumoured £500m. Phew.
But then the driver changes happen! Lewis Hamilton is staying at McLaren-Mercedes, but leaves one seat empty. With Red Bull keeping both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, Felipe Massa staying at Ferrari and Sebasian Buemi keeping his seat with Toro Rosso, lots of seats were available!
So, I hear you say, 'Where are we now?! I'm so confused!' Fear not, I shall shed some light on the matter. 4 new teams have entered the grid for next season - Lotus F1, Manor GP, Campos Meta and US F1. Which means there are 26 seats available, and with only 5 of them filled, the teams had a lot to do!
So far, then, we have this. Giancarlo Fisichella left Force India after Race 13 in 2009, and joined Ferrari. He will become the test driver and reserve driver for 2010. Force India are yet to unveil their driving lineup for 2010, so are yet to replace him. Both Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi are still to be confirmed, but look to be out of a job.
Ferrari have filled Fisichella's seat with Fernando Alonso, who has joined from Renault. Renault are discussing whether to pull out of F1 altogether, but have already signed Robert Kubica to replace Alonso. This leaves Nelson Piquet Jr. sacked from the team, and after the crash scandal, Flavio Briatore has been banned as well.
Kubica's old team, BMW Sauber, have pulled out of F1, so Nick Heidfeld has lost his seat. He has, however, alos been linked with both Brawn/Mercedes GP and Renault, and this could complete an ex-BMW lineup at the French team.
On the other side of the grid, we have Williams. They have signed Rubens Barrichello from Brawn/Mercedes GP, and have told Nico Rosberg he is free to leave the team. Rosberg is linked with Brawn/Mercedes GP, and could compete with Heidfeld. Also joining Barrichello is Nico Hulkenberg, who won the GP2 series.
So then we have the 4 new teams. Campos Meta have signed Bruno Senna, nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna, and have one available seat, being linked with a lot of previous GP2 drivers. Then we have Lotus, who have signed no-one, but are being linked with Jarno Trulli, who has no team after Toyota left. This has also left Timo Glock without a team, and he has been linked with Manor. They have also been linked with Nelson Piquet Jr., who could have a reprieve from his ban.
This leaves two teams - Toro Rosso and US F1. With one seat available, Toro Rosso are likely to give it to 2009 driver Jamie Algersuari, but this could change depending on the ex-Toyota driver situation. The US F1 team have decided to scout for potential F1 drivers in the USA, and will employ two American drivers for the enw season.
But where does this leave Kimi Raikonnen? He could take a seat in any of these teams! And Sebastian Bourdais could be on for a return after his sacking by Toro Rosso midway through the season. Nakajima could also get a drive with one of the new teams. Raikonnen could technically go to Brawn/Mercedes GP, which takes us back in the big loop, and starts us off again with jenson button!
It is all to be revealed. I do apologise if you have no interest in F1 whatsoever, but I needed to write down my ideas while they were fresh!
So, MERCEDES GRAND PRIX, Monday 16th November 2009 is yours!
No comments:
Post a Comment