Räikkönen at Red Bull?

As expected after the confirmation of Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, the transfer market is reignited for 2010.

A large part of the Formula 1 media waited in vain throughout Tuesday for the official announcement of Robert Kubica’s signing with Renault. But the French team waited until yesterday to announce that they would secure the services of the Pole for the next season.

The hottest rumor at the moment is that McLaren and Toyota are not the only ones pushing to have Kimi Räikkönen in their ranks. Indeed, there was a meeting between the management of Red Bull Racing and the Finnish driver, despite the fact that Australian Mark Webber recently signed his contract for the 2010 season.

« We negotiate with all the teams, even those that do not have vacant positions, » admitted Kimi Räikkönen’s agent, Steve Robertson.

The other new rumor concerns Renault, even after replacing Fernando Alonso with the Polish driver Robert Kubica, the team is reportedly on the lookout for a new teammate for its future number 1. According to what is heard, Renault’s management does not believe in Romain Grosjean after his poor performances. It is even said that he could be replaced by reserve driver Lucas di Grassi as early as the Brazilian Grand Prix. The French driver was reportedly defended by the former boss, Flavio Briatore.

The name Nick Heidfeld would be at the top of the list for the second seat, thus reuniting the BMW duo at Renault F1. However, the French team has indicated that it is willing to wait much longer, for example, until January of next year to confirm the identity of the second driver. The names following the German driver on the list are Timo Glock and Adrian Sutil.

As for the Williams team, they are planning a brand new lineup for 2010. With Nico Hülkenberg, the new GP2 champion, alongside Rubens Barrichello. The latter should be replaced in Brazil by Nico Rosberg.

Likely to still be in the running at the end of the musical chairs, drivers Heikki Kovalainen, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli, and Romain Grosjean will probably have to look towards some of the new incoming teams for next year.