F1 Fanatic

We were told to expect a major announcement about drivers “on Wednesday”, according to Eddie Jordan – or, if you prefer, Martin Brundle who apparently said much the same thing.

Wednesday has come, so who will announce what by the end of today? Place your bets, and we can look back and laugh at them later.

I’ll stick my neck out, and say Mercedes will announce that Michael Schumacher is staying for another year.

I say it’ll be something boring and expected – Maldonado stays at Williams is my bet!

Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to hear anything. If Mercedes want Hamilton to replace Schumacher, they’re not going to announce Schumacher’s retirement when McLaren have just announced that they are willing to match Mercedes’ offer to Hamilton. Doing so would only give more bargaining power to Hamilton, and as much as the team might want to keep him, they’ll be reluctant to cede any more ground to him. And it’s not good for Mercedes, either, because if McLaren are willing to match Mercedes’ offer, that suggests that Hamilton hasn’t signed anything with Mercedes yet.

So I suspect that we’re only going to hear something if it’s along the lines of “Hamilton to replace Schumacher at Mercedes” – ie, a whole driver move, not half a one like Schumacher leaving.

Maldonado stays at Williams is my bet!

He’s already confirmed.

That’s just evil, @keithcollantine – why would you force us to wait another 24 hours? Or do you know something we don’t?

Well, those kittens must have had it coming, then. Serves them right for being all cute and adorable.

Ah, Maldonado did sign a 2-year contract last year, didn’t he?

Nobody moves. Not even Massa. Everybody wonders why. Why, Ferrari? Why? Schumacher is only committing on a year-by-year basis after having a frustrating season of some limited success and a lot of disappointment. Force India and Sauber keep their drivers who are often speculated as on the move (although maybe Kobayashi is kicked out). Why, Ferrari? Really?

@matt90
Is that final??? So nobody moved???