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James Allen has been more skeptical than most on this. His changing of opinion signals these rumours have some grounding.
Quote from JPeace :not being sceptical, just why would he come back?

The same reason he flew half way across the world to spend 4 days in a car park in Las Vegas racing the best karters on the planet - he wants to push himself constantly against the best drivers.

Nothing has been confirmed yet though. Waiting game! innit aii
Quote from JPeace :lul.

it would be good to see him back, so the likes of hamilton could be compared to the 2nd best driver i have ever seen drive.

I think we can expect some solid performances. He looked good in las Vegas if a little ragid to be honest. but for a 40+ year old man... wow.

Apparently Schumacher missed the Ferrari Xmas Lunch thing and De Montezemelo failed to mention Schumacher once in his speech. he mentioned Kimi, ALonso and Massa though.
Quote from Intrepid :I think we can expect some solid performances. He looked good in las Vegas if a little ragid to be honest. but for a 40+ year old man... wow.

Apparently Schumacher missed the Ferrari Xmas Lunch thing and De Montezemelo failed to mention Schumacher once in his speech. he mentioned Kimi, ALonso and Massa though.

So James Allen is a reliable source because he does Karting? Oh I get it.
Report: Schumacher Verbally Agrees to $5.1 Million Mercedes GP Deal for 2010

http://wot.motortrend.com/6599 ... -deal-for-2010/index.html

It's really just more hearsay and inside sources, but I'm a little less skeptical now. How trustworthy are these German publications (Bild and Focus)? I don't really care if he comes back or not, but it would be interesting.

I'm glad to see Heikki will be back for 2010.
Quote from ultrataco :Report: Schumacher Verbally Agrees to $5.1 Million Mercedes GP Deal for 2010

http://wot.motortrend.com/6599 ... -deal-for-2010/index.html

It's really just more hearsay and inside sources, but I'm a little less skeptical now. How trustworthy are these German publications (Bild and Focus)? I don't really care if he comes back or not, but it would be interesting.

I'm glad to see Heikki will be back for 2010.

Focus and Bild are among the worst media here in case of trustworthy. Bild is the worst actually. Focus tries to come serious but they write so much shit.
But it (the 5.1 million dollar Schumacher deal) was reported on friday in radio by one of the most trustworthy radio stations with more details as there was in BILD, havent read the Focus article though. Might be true, might not.
Quote from JPeace :it was reported on the BBC as well, so it must have some truth in it.

great thank you now we have karting f1 schumacher bbc and our resident balls collection in the same thread
i hope youre happy when we tip over the bs event horizon
Whenever there is a rule change, roumour or a new driver in place, Ill update the first post.

(Wanted to mention, since I am making a post everytime I Update 1st post. No need to post anymore)
i see maor have confirmed the virgin deal (cue loads of virgin jokes)

also ferrari have stated that schumi is free to race elsewhere and they're happy about it.

2 ways of looking at it, either they're making their position known in public so he doesn't need to worry about it or they're doing it so it can't be used as an excuse if the merc deal doesn't happen
Quote from tinvek : or they're doing it so it can't be used as an excuse if the merc deal doesn't happen

I think you're onto it.
Quote from SpeedTV :F1: Sticky Situation For Brawn/Mercedes?
Stories have emerged in Germany of an alleged sponsorship scam that could leave a massive hole in the budget of the new Mercedes GP team.

Source
Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente is the Test Driver for Virgin.

Confirmed last weekend.
Quote from NunoMike :Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente is the Test Driver for Virgin.

Confirmed last weekend.

Source? So i can add it to the 1st post
Quote from amp88 :Source

i saw that too. don't think the money issue is a problem, a bigger worry is the loss of credability after getting caught out like that.
There's something intriguing me about Alvaro Parente being the 3rd driver. As soon as I read the news in Autosport Portugal, the article was showered with comments about how Parente is going to fail in F1 as a team's 3rd driver.
I mean, what the hell? He's the best portuguese driver in a F1 line-up since the times of Pedro Lamy (don't get me wrong, Monteiro was a good driver, but with today's F1 cars' reliability, there's no room for a guy who looks after his car [like Richard Hammond looks after Oliver] but isn't fast). I wouldn't wish to be in any 3rd driver's shoes after reading this.
Quote from Senninha25 :There's something intriguing me about Alvaro Parente being the 3rd driver. As soon as I read the news in Autosport Portugal, the article was showered with comments about how Parente is going to fail in F1 as a team's 3rd driver.
I mean, what the hell? He's the best portuguese driver in a F1 line-up since the times of Pedro Lamy (don't get me wrong, Monteiro was a good driver, but with today's F1 cars' reliability, there's no room for a guy who looks after his car [like Richard Hammond looks after Oliver] but isn't fast). I wouldn't wish to be in any 3rd driver's shoes after reading this.

Being a 3rd driver has never exactly been a guaranteed way in to a race-seat. Lots of drivers have tested, been competitive, and never made it any further.

Parente could be a great driver, but unless he finds the money to buy a race seat (which he clearly does not have at the moment) there'll always be someone ahead of him in the pecking order at the small new teams. And how likely is it that a big team is going to sign him after a season of testing for a small new team? Not very imo.

He has a lot of obstacles in his way still.

So while he may not fail at his job, he may be as quick as his team mates, I reckon history would stack the odds against him making it big in F1. I mean, look at Gary Paffett, who couldn't even get another test drive with another team after McLaren dropped him (though iirc they may have later signed him up as the 4th driver).
Quote from aroX123 :Source? So i can add it to the 1st post

http://www.virgin.com/lifestyl ... g-formula-1-team-launches

As the Autosport Portugal says, there's a big chance that Parente might sign in as GP2 Racing Engeneering driver, which will give him the chance to fight for the GP2 title. A great season in GP2 might open doors for more sponsors and, of course, more money.

Alvaro Parente is a great driver, very agressive but reliable, very inteligent in the way he manges a race and his car along the track and it's better to be a 3rd driver than no driver at all...

Let's see what the future reserves for him.
Quote from GianniC :Already gone

It was just basically highlights of the season, i didn't see SHIT from the Gala.
Since I really cannot be bothered to go through the last page of posts to find out if this has been posted, I'll post it anyway.

It basically says that Kobayashi has signed for the 'new' Sauber team. Not sure if it's solid evidence or not.

http://www.ts.fi/f1/uutiset/96448.html - It's in Finnish so if someone could translate it to english that would be greatfully appreciated.

Formula One Season 2010
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