There is still plenty of speculation over just who will be on the grid in 2010. Some of the changes are already well known. There will be no Toyota, no BMW, no Brawn and no Kimi Raikkonen but there will be Mercedes and Sauber. As most of you will know the Brawn squad has been purchased by Mercedes and so the Silver Arrows will have a factory presence in F1 for the first time since 1955. 

Stirling Moss won at Aintree the last time Mercedes entered a works team in 1955

  The 13th team slot was still undergoing some speculation early in the week but on Thursday the FIA announced that Toyota would not be selling on their entry and so the last place was handed back to Peter Sauber who has been pushing ahead with the design of his Ferrari engined challenger since BMW announced it’s withdrawal.

   This may not be the final change for the teams however. Renault have been meeting this week to decide if they will continue as a factory team or if they will be selling the race team, most likely to Dave Richards’ Prodrive outfit, and continuing solely as an engine supplier. There is due to be another board meeting on December 14 at which time an announcement is likely to be made.

   In the last couple of weeks there have been few driver announcements apart from Jenson Button signing with McLaren but this morning, Kimi Raikkonen ended any speculation of a possible stint with Mercedes with the news that he will definitely be driving in the World Rally Championship with Red Bull backing in the Citroen Junior team. 

  Other driver rumours continue to swirl about, some more absurd than others. Despite many semi-denials there is still talk of Michael Schumacher driving for Mercedes under old boss Ross Brawn. Apparently Michael is due to meet up with Willi Weber in Stuttgart on Monday, according to the German newspaper Bild Zeitung. It may just be for a chat and a coffee but Stuttgart is the home of Daimler-Benz, the owners of Mercedes.

    Are they serious or just stirring the press, time will tell. One driver who must be getting a bit tired of the Schumacher stories is Nick Heidfeld who has been long rumoured to be joining Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes squad. He may also decide to stay with Sauber now that they have secured their place on the gird.

   On the slightly bizarre side, were rumours that Jacques Villeneuve would be joining the possible Prodrive/Renault team alongside Robert Kubica. As Dave Richards had previously sacked Villeneuve from the BAR team after a long running dispute, this is a pretty long shot. The possibility of him joining Lotus or USF1 are much more likely if he is to find a way back onto the grid. 

    The second Renault and Mercedes seats are the only two major places left to be filled and even the lesser drives in the existing teams have been mostly filled with the Sutil/Liuzzi pairing continuing at Force India and Buemi staying at Toro Rosso. Of the new teams only Senna at Campos and Glock at Virgin/Manor have been confirmed.

   It is still likely that Jarno Trulli will fill one of the Lotus seats while the latest rumour for the second Campos seat is now former A1GP pilot, Alvaro Parente. Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado are in the running for the seat but Campos "is tired of waiting for their promised money".

   The confirmed FIA entry list is as follows; 

No Driver Entrant Constructor

1 Jenson BUTTON (GB) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES

2 Lewis HAMILTON (GB) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES

3 Nico ROSBERG (D) MERCEDES GP MERCEDES

4 Michael SCHUMACHER MERCEDES GP MERCEDES

5 Sebastian VETTEL (D) RED BULL RACING RED BULL RENAULT

6 Mark WEBBER (AUS) RED BULL RACING RED BULL RENAULT

7 Felipe MASSA (BR) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI

8 Fernando ALONSO (E) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI

9 Rubens BARRICHELLO (BR) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS COSWORTH

10 Nico HULKENBERG (D) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS COSWORTH

11 Robert KUBICA (PL) RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT

12 TBA RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT

14 Adrian SUTIL (D) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES

15 Vitantonio LIUZZI (I) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES

16 Sebastien BUEMI (CH) SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI

17 TBA SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI

18 Jarno TRULLI LOTUS F1 RACING LOTUS COSWORTH

19 Heikki KOVALAINEN LOTUS F1 RACING LOTUS COSWORTH

20 TBA CAMPOS META 1 CAMPOS DALLARA

21 Bruno SENNA (BR) CAMPOS META 1 CAMPOS DALLARA

22 TBA US F1 TEAM US F1 COSWORTH

23 TBA US F1 TEAM US F1 COSWORTH

24 Timo GLOCK (D) VIRGIN RACING VIRGIN COSWORTH

25 Lucas di GRASSI VIRGIN RACING VIRGIN COSWORTH

26 TBA SAUBER A.G. SUABER FERRARI

27 Kamui KOBAYASHI SAUBER A.G. SUABER FERRARI  

Sam Snape

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