Silly season 2010

[ESPImperium]

Im thinking theres gonna be a few announcements this week. Some of the more minor roles in paddock and some of the more "major" roles in the paddock.

Id recon this for definate:

Trulli to Team Lotus F1
Fauzy to Team Lotus F1 Test & Reserve role

[compo]

[deus1066]

Thanks, its good to have someone on the inside for us.

You wouldn't happen to know whether they take on elective medical students as part of their medical team?

Thanks.

[Fil]

Just looking at the driver heights for potential McLaren drivers..
Lewis is 174cm, Heikki 172, Jenson 183, Kimi 175, Nick 164

Looks like Jenson may have some issues fitting the MP4-25 & Kimi is a shoe-in! Nick would need a set of Yellow-Pages to sit on


All the more bargaining power to Brawn!
"Jense, we'll give you £3m, and a ride that you can actually fit in.. or you can go to McLaren & drive with ur knees <insert Ross' chortle>"

[compo]

[Fil]

Looks like more pieces are falling into place..

Later this week a Brawn official announcement is expected to confirm the team is to be renamed Mercedes via a 75% controlling stake, drivers will be Rosberg & probably Heidfeld.
McLaren buyback their 40% for £300m + free engines for the remainder of their original contract.

Source: Planet-F1

[WhiteBlue]

Rosberg/Heidfeld at Brawn makes no sense to me. The primary objective for Merc to place Heidfeld must be at McLaren. McLaren will probably remain a Merc branded team in 2010 and Heidfeld will ideally fit their situation. Button is too tall and Kimi is too expensive.

Re the Brawn Aabar buyout I think that this will go ahead regardless of the Merc/McLaren situation. IMO McLaren have made some excessive demands or the deal would have gone forward in Abu Dhabi. Merc have nothing to win by shifting their works team identity too suddenly. As long as Aabar holds the Brawn equity they can switch livery any time they get an acceptable deal from McLaren. If necessary they can wait two years until the McLaren contract runs out. If push comes to shove they can even badge a Cosworth engine with Maybach if McLaren block the 2011 engine deal.

[Fil]

if it the 2 buyouts are already signed, and only need official announcement, then an all-German pairing at Mercedes-Brawn makes plenty of sense.

also makes sense with what goony was saying about Jenson having a seat-fitting on Friday at McLaren.
Tell ya what tho, if Jenson doesn't fit in the McLaren (he's 9cm taller than Lewis).. he's gonna be out in the cold.. Renault will be his next best seat

[xpensive]

What if Button is Lotus' mystery driver, remember Damon Hill at Arrows in 1997?

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 5420.shtml

[WhiteBlue]

.... an all-German pairing at Mercedes-Brawn makes plenty of sense.

I don't think so.

• Rosberg is the more attractive German for Brawn
• having two Germans doesn't make sense marketing wise because you want to addresse other markets as well
• having the No 1 on the car makes more sense if it comes at the right price
• having a Brit driver presence will help to balance the McLaren situation, the fans are not driven to the future oppo
• having German drivers at Brawn and McLaren helps the marketing in Germany

[lebesset]

no way would mercedes want nico/nick at brawn if they buy in

imho nick is the best number 2 in the business and great value for money

nico is not yet the finished article , he may turn into a top driver but he ain't there yet

if mercedes put those two in at brawn they would probably end up with egg on their face , and I don't see them as being that stupid

so it would have to be kimi or jenson for me , preferably jenson with nick because their styles would enable the development of the car in one direction ; trouble is nico wouldn't want to go up against lewis , don't think it would bother nick at all though , he would just carry on doing what he does

it looks more and more clear that this hang-up in the driver market is all about mercedes and their relationships with Mc and brawn

interesting times

[Chaparral]

Here's a left fielder - what if Rosberg's contract has a clause which stipulates his team mate cannot have a salary greater than his own - that presents an out for Brawn when it comes to Button's salary demands - then Button not being able to fit the Mclaren tub - doesnt leave too many options except Renault does it - btw the contract clause item is mentioned in print - cheers

[db__]

Mercedes take ownership of Brawn


Brawn will be taken over by Mercedes and be an all-German team
German car giant Mercedes has bought the Brawn Formula 1 team in a move that is likely to see Jenson Button join McLaren as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate.
Mercedes will buy a controlling interest in Brawn, believed to be 75%.
Brawn, who won both world titles in their debut season in 2009, will be rebranded as the Mercedes GP team.
Nico Rosberg will be their lead driver, with Nick Heidfeld his likely partner.
Neither driver has yet been confirmed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 362295.stm

Just up on the BBC although I've not seen it anywhere else yet - Button off to Mclaren then or just in limbo?

[Chaparral]

Oh btw there is also Renault or has everyone forgotten about them - Button $10-12 mil #1 status - thats if they are in for the long haul

[ESPImperium]

Im shure this will start to get the driver changes speeded up. Kimi is stil out in the cold, quite literally, but i think that he will be racing with a Ferarri 056 engine behind him with Fisi as his team-mate next year at Quabak Sauber Ferarri next year, or is he going to Renault with Kubica.

And one last thing, Renault F1 could be re-branded Nissan F1 to keep a Japaneese name on the grid for 2010, leaving Kobiyashi to go to them as well. The renault engine woukd stay as a renault engine in the Red Bull car to keep the Renault name on the grid but as a engine partner, the Nissan Engine would be a rebranded Renault R27 engine tho.