Mercedes Grand Prix drivers 2010: Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg?

Woah. This is big news. The upstart Brawn GP which blew away most of the Formula One teams in the first half of the year, and went on to take both 2009 F1 driver’s championship and constructors’ championship has been practically taken over by one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, Mercedes.

Update: Michael Schumacher to race for Mercedes GP!

Mercedes Grand Prix 2010 car image

Brawn GP, of course, was th 2009 version of the much-maligned Honda F1 team of 2008. Once Honda exited F1, Ross Brawn (formely of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher’s colleague during the days of Jean Todt) took over the team, and exploited a loophole in the 2009 regulations and introduced a double diffuser which gave the team a clear advantage over the other teams. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, the two drivers of Bran GP went on to score podium after podium, while their rivals caught up. The main F1 challengers, Ferrari and Mclaren Mercedes though could not make a big comback at all.

Now, news emerges that Mercedes has bought 75 per cent stake in Brawn GP. The team will be know henceforth as Mercedes Grand Prix. Mercedes will get rid of its stake in McLaren, but would still stick to engine partnership till possibly, 2015. McLaren Mercedes has gone through some really bad controversies in the last two years – remember those stolen documents and LiarGate?

What is still unclear is what would happen to the 2009 F1 World Champion, Jenson Button.

Jenson Button has been negotiating with Brawn GP hard about this 2010 paycheck. He has also thrown enough hints that he would be willing to look at other teams by recently visiting the Woking factory of Mclaren Mercedes.

However, no one knows if the new Mercedes Grand Prix will be willing to keep him for 2010. Brawn GP had said that they could not afford his increased salary demands. Despite their success, Brawn GP had found it difficult in 2009 to attract sponsors. However, the good news is that Mercedes can definitely afford Jenson Button. They may want to do that too, as where the F1 World Champion goes, the car number 1 goes with him too. That would be an attraction for Meredes Benz for sure. And they definitely have the money to pay Jenson Button for the privilege. Mercedes would have an easier time attracting more sponsors too, compared to Brawn GP.

However rumours are that the new Mercedes Grand Prix would like to have two German drives in its cars for the 2010 season. And there are two drivers available – Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. Nico Rosberg drove for Williams F1 during the 2009 season, and Nick Heidfeld drove for BMW Sauber. BMW too has left F1 racing for now.

That leaves two German drivers free for the 2010 season, both have performed reasonably well in 2009, and would be a perfect German nationalistic package, easy to market for Mercedes Grand Prix.

However, that leaves current champion Jenson Button at a loose end, unless he manages to secure a seat at the current McLaren Mercedes team. If that happens, McLaren Mercedes would have an all-British line-up for the 2010 season, again another marketable pair. Plus, they get the No.1 car too.

But if that happens, another driver – an an ex-World Champion – will be at a loose end. That will be Kimi Raikkonen, who has just been released from his Ferrari seat. Kimi Raikkonen has made it clear that in 2010, he would race only for a team with a chance of winning the F1 World Championship, and that so far meant McLaren Mercedes alone as all other seats were full. Now, he would be left without a seat – unless he thinks that the Mercedes Grand Prix team – which actually would be the world champion team of 2009 – would be able to win in 2010. Then of course, there is the question of the pay packet. Sure, Ross Brown would not have been able to afford a Kimi, but would it be possible for the new Mercedes Grand Prix? Questions, questions…