Ten eventful days have passed, it is time for yet another 2010 season countdown post. Here is a summary where F1 stands with 80 days to go.
Let’s start with Mercedes GP. The Michael Schumacher rumours have ended, he will return. Only few days earlier the team also announced the title sponsorship deal with Petronas. These events almost made us forget about the bizzare Henkel deal that Henkel had no idea about (that has been settled by now).
Virgin and Manor confirmed that the team will race as Virgin Racing and announced Lucas di Grassi as their second driver.
Sauber not only got the Toyota’s place on the grid, they also signed one of their drivers – Kamui Kobayashi.
Renault decided to sell major share in their team to Genii Capital. That made Robert Kubica to think about his deal with the team, although where else can he go now … Red Bull will keep the Renault power for now. That means all the teams have now confirmed their engine suppliers.
Tony Fernandes made the decision on the colour of Lotus 2010 livery (without making that decision public).
FIA published new version of 2010 regulations. FOTA scrapped the plans for joint launch.
With 80 days to go, there are still vacancies at Renault (1), Sauber (1), Toro Rosso (1), USF1 (2) and Campos Meta (1). Nick Heidfeld is still without a seat.
The season countdown will be back again in 10 days.
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The game starts in less than 10 days when testing resumes. Many teams are still without two seats confirmed, which tells me they are well behind the others. Four new teams. Michael returns. Jenson goes to McLaren with the #1.
The table is set for an exciting 2010 season.
I haven’t found any test calendar but I found on Barcelona track website that the track is booked for F1 test from Feb 25 – 28. Jerez track web shows that the Jerez track is expecting F1 teams to test from February 10 to Feb 13 and then from Feb 17 to Feb 20. The other usual winter testing venues (Valencia, Bahrain) do not list any F1 testing dates at the moment.