With just over 1 week until the first Grand Prix race of the 2010 season in Bahrain, we thought it’s be a nice idea to summarise what’s happened between Jenson Button’s 2009 Championship win, and now.

Teams

Shortly after the end of the 2009 season, Japanese team Toyota announced that they would no longer take part in Formula One due to financial reasons. This left drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock without a drive. Previous to this, BMW Sauber had also announced that they were also pulling out of F1 due to BMW not wanting to take part, again leaving drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica looking for jobs.

Sauber however managed to salvage the team, bringing it to F1 in 2010 – Although the team lost both drivers in the process, as well as the BMW Engine. Sauber are still registered as BMW Sauber, despite the lack of BMW – choosing to use a Ferrari engine instead.

Constructers champions Brawn GP were also bought out by German car manufacturer Mercedes, renaming the team Mercedes GP. Ross Brawn stays in his position as Team Principal.

4 new teams were billed to join the 2010 season, Virgin Racing, Campos (Now HRT Racing), US F1, and Lotus. US F1 recently announced that they are pulling out of the 2010 season, being unable to complete their development programme in time, and now focussing on a 2011 entry. It is understood that Stefan GP attempted to take the remaining slot on the F1 grid, however the FIA rejected their entry based on the time before the first race (some 2 weeks).

Drivers

The first major scalp in the driver juggle was Kimi Raikkonen. Mid 2009 season Ferrari announced that Renault driver Fernando Alonso would be joining the team, leaving Raikkonen without a 2009 race seat. Raikkonen was understood to only want a seat in one of two available cars, the Brawn or McLaren – however neither deal was made (likely due to the high price Raikkonen was commanding) and Raikkonen left F1 (albeit maybe temporarily).

The second biggest shock of the driver reshuffle was the move of 2009 championship winner Jenson Button over to McLaren. He joins the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton for an all British line-up. Widely seen as a risky move, time will tell if this change was a good one for Button.

The final big news was the announcement of Michael Schumacher to the Mercedes GP team. Schumacher returns out of retirement for 3 years to lead an all German lineup with Nico Rosberg as his partner. Schumacher originally planned an F1 return in 2009 when Felipe Massa pulled out after an accident, however was unable to due to suffering a neck injury after a motorbike accident.

Remaining driver positions can be seen in our Guide to 2010 driver lineups.

Important Rule Changes

• Refuelling has been banned during the race. Drivers will only be able to pitstop with problems and tyre changes.
• The top ten drivers to qualify for the race must start the race on the same set of tyres that quaified with.
• A new points system is now in place (see here)
• KERS, although not banned by the FIA, will not be used by FOTA teams in 2010.
• A Grand Prix can now take upto 26 cars.
• Wheel covers are banned on all cars.
• Front tyres have been slightly narrowed in comparison to rear tyres
• No testing rules have been slightly amended to allow any backup drivers 1 day of testing on a circuit not part of the 2010 season in order to prepare them for racing.

Circuit Changes

British GP track Donington pulled out of hosting the 2010 GP, and any future ones after they could not secure the funding for the endeavour. After weeks of speculation, and the chance of no British Grand Prix on the timetable, an agreement was placed between F1 Administration and Silverstone to host the British GP for the next 17 years.

The Canadian Grand Prix will return in 2010. Fuji Speedway was also due to host the 2010 Japanese GP, however track owners Toyota pulled out of this as well, leaving Suzuka to continue holding the race.

Finally, South Korea will host its first GP at the Korean International Circuit in the latter part of the season.

According to the Swiss daily newspaper Blick, Sauber will confirm Pedro de la Rosa to drive alongside Kamui Kobayashi in 2010 for the new team.

The newspaper said that an announcement will be made soon, barring “an earthquake in Hinwil.”

The 38-year-old Spaniard has had two previous stints in an F1 race seat from 99-02 with Arrows and Jaguar and from 05-06 at McLaren, before become a full time test driver for McLaren. In his 72 races, he collected 29 points with just 1 podium, and 0 wins.

Last week team owner Peter Sauber was quoted as saying that “an experienced man” with “new knowledge for the team” has been signed to partner Kobayashi in 2010 – a bill perfectly fitted by de la Rosa.

Christian Klien and Nick Heidfeld are other drivers in the running for the seat.

Sauber have today confirmed their first driver for 2010 – Japanese former Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi.

Kobayashi stood in for an injured Timo Glock at Toyota in the last 2 races of last season to make his F1 debut. He finished 9th and 6th but won himself an instant fanbase due to his aggressive style. Kobayashi has previously won the GP2 Asia Series, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Italia. He said:

“Ever since the start of my career I have dreamed of racing in F1. Now this dream has come true. I am very happy that my two races in 2009 have earned me a cockpit place.

“I will do my very best for Peter Sauber’s team and I am proud to be able to carry on flying the Japanese flag in F1.”

Team boss Peter Sauber said:

“I’m very much looking forward to working together with Kamui. In the final two Grand Prix of last season he was granted an unexpected chance to show his skills, and he made impressive use of it.

“Particularly in the Abu Dhabi race he demonstrated not only that he can drive fast and aggressively, but also his ability to successfully implement a strategy. I am convinced he has a great deal of potential and will be able to make the most of it in our team.”

This cost-cutting initiative is likely to take place at the Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias complex in Valencia on January 30, and is backed by most teams.

Mercedes Chief Executive Nick Fry said;

“We’ve agreed among the teams to do a joint launch. It’s a demonstration of how we’re working together.”

The boss of the new team Lotus – Tony Fernandes said that the supposed launch on January 30 2010 is too soon for his team, who plan to roll out their car in February. He joked;

“I won’t have a car at that time. I could come with a Matchbox car.”

The FIA has said in a press release on its website that Sauber’s application to get a team on the grid in 2010 has been successful, with them taking the place of the departing Toyota team.

The press release read:

The FIA has written to inform BMW Sauber AG that their application for an entry in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been successful.  Subject to their signing the Concorde Agreement, BMW Sauber will be awarded the 13th entry in the Championship, taking the place of the departing Toyota team.

The FIA has worked closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams involved over recent weeks and is grateful for their support in achieving the best outcome for the sport.

An updated Formula One entry list will be published in due course.

Sauber will be back on the grid after buying the BMW team for the first time since 2005.