The 2007 grid?
Next weekend, after the Italian GP at Monza, Ferrari will finally announce their drivers line-up for next season. It is rumoured that there will be 3 drivers announced: Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. This would give Schumi the chance to think a bit longer about his retirement. At Ferrari, nobody wanted to comment this rumour 'till after next week's race.
Next week, we will finally know what will happen with Schumacher and Raikkonen next season. There has been a lot of speculation since Fernando Alonso annouced his switch from Renault to McLaren, but everybody is still holding their breaths for Schumacher's decision. Not only the fans are waiting anxiously for the seven times World Champion to announce his plans for 2007, also the other teams, as only Red Bull, Toyota, and Williams F1 already announced their drivers line-up.
So what do we already know?
Renault: Fisichella signed a new contract with the French team. It's whispered that Kimi Raikkonen or Heikki Kovalainen will take the 2nd race seat. Who will become the test-and reserve driver isn't clear. There are rumours about Ricardo Zonta and Nelson Piquet Jr.
Ferrari: Felipe Massa has done a good job this season by stealing points from Alonso and Renault. Last week he also won his first GP in Turkey after which Todt described him as a future Champion. Would Ferrari let go a 'future Champion'? Michael Schumacher, the seven times World Champion, has to decide if he'll go on for another year in F1 or not and the way it looks now, nobody can really predict what his decision will be. But...if Schumacher retires, Kimi Raikkonen is on pole position to take over from the German.
BMW Sauber: After dismissing Jacques Villeneuve, BMW Sauber made it clear that they want to go on with young talent. Robert Kubica made promotion from test- and reserve driver to race driver and it's likely that he'll keep his seat for next season with Nick Heidfeld at his side. Sebastian Vettel is set to keep his role as third driver after an amazinig debut at the Turkish GP.
Honda: Honda did not make an official announcement about their drivers line-up, but Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are certain about their seat. The only questionmark is Anthony 'ANT' Davidson. There are speculations that he'd move to Super Aguri where a race seat would await him.
Toyota: Toyota confirmed that Jarno Trulli has extend his contract with the team for 3 years. Ralf Schumacher still has a contract, so we have every reason to believe that these two drivers will be in the race seats at Toyota in 2007.
McLaren: Fernando Alonso is the only driver that has been announced for the 2007 season. Nobody expects Kimi Raikkonen to team up with Alonso. There are rumours about Lewis Hamilton, but you can't forget about Pedro de la Rosa, who did an amazing job replacing Montoya, and Gary Paffett. Lewis Hamilton does not have much experience in F1, so it's possible that Ron Dennis will choose someone who will help Alonso to win the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship.
Midland F1: Christijan Albers hopes for some tests with bigger teams, but it's likely that he'll stay with Midland. Tiago Monteiro declared earlier this week that he is certain of a new contract with the team.
Red Bull: David Coulthard and Mark Webber form a nice pair and Red Bull hopes that they will bring home victories in the RB3, that will be designed by Adrian Newey. If Doornbos can keep his role as test- and reserve driver is not clear at the moment.
Toro Rosso: Everybody expects Tonio Liuzzi to stay with the team in 2007. There have been rumours about several drivers moving to Toro Rosso and we can't forget about Scott Speed.
Williams F1: Alexander Wurz will, after years of absence on the grid, start the 2007 season as a race driver with Williams with Nico Rosberg by his side. But who will become third driver, the team hasn't announced yet. Narain Karthikeyan seems to be the obvious choice.
Super Aguri: Takuma Sato is certain of his race seat with the Japanese Team. Anthony Davidson seems to be in pole position for the second race seat as Sakon Yamamoto wasn't able to complete a single race so far.
