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.”

Lotus have today confirmed their drivers for the 2010 Formula 1 season – Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen in race seats with Fairuz Fauzy the team’s third driver. The announcement was made by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur.

Trulli was left without a drive when Toyota left F1 at the end of the 2009 season. He is a veteran of 219 races, collecting 246.5 career points but just one win since his first race in 1997. He has driven for Jordan, Renault and Toyota.

28-year-old Kovalainen has been in F1 since 2007 where he raced for Renault before moving to McLaren for 2008 and 2009, before being replaced by Jenson Button for 2010. Kovalainen has raced in F1 52 times, collecting 105 points but only one race win.

Fairuz Fauzy, a Malaysian driver now on a Malaysian team at Lotus. 27-year-old Fauzy is a veteran in the formulae below F1. This year Fauzy finished 2nd in the World Series by Renault.

Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa went close to winning in his own karting event recently – Desafio Internacional das Estrelas, including winning one of the two races, but he finished in second to Michael Schumacher, who won the event overall.

However Massa has just won the 500 Miles of Granja Viana event near Sao Paulo in Brazil, alongside team mates Lucas di Grassi, and Stock Car Lights driver Julio Campos, after just under 11 hours of racing. He dedicated his win to his new born baby Felipinho.

Massa said;

“Together with the victory gained in Florianopolis last week this was a very important goal for me after I had dreamt about getting back onto the track for a long time. I want to dedicate this victory to my son, it’s my way to say how much I love him.”

Finishing in second place was a team featuring former Toyota F1 star Ricardo Zonta, while Rubens Barrichello’s team came third.

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.

The FIA have today published the 2010 F1 entry list on their official website.

A few interesting points of note from this entry list are as follows:

• Although Brawn GP are listed , it also says;

This team has indicated its intention to change its team name to Mercedes Grand Prix prior to the start of the 2010 season

• Despite Jaime Alguersuari saying that he will drive for Toro Rosso next season, Sebastien Buemi is the only listed confirmed driver for the team.

• Although there is no mention of Toyota in the entry list, at the bottom of the page it says;

Toyota Motorsport GmbH remains formally bound by the Concorde Agreement to put forward a team for participation, though it has indicated that it will not be in a position to do so. An announcement will be made regarding this entry in due course.

• In the entry list Manor Grand Prix are actually called Virgin Racing.
• Sauber is not yet mentioned in the list as the team has not yet been allocated a grid spot.

Former team owner Peter Sauber will have a team back in F1 in 2010, provided that they are allocated grid places, after he bought the outgoing BMW team.

Sauber were previously an F1 team from 1993-2005 before they were purchased by BMW. They competed 206 times and scored 6 podiums, despite never taking a race win.

Sauber has bought the team after the deal that BMW seemed to have in place with Qadbak Investments Ltd fell through. This deal fell through as Qadbak did not have the necessary funds and that there was no bank guarantee. Bahrain Capital International, who were supposed to give such a guarantee, turned out to be a shell company of controversial businessman and senior Qadbak representative Russell King, with no assets.

Dr. Klaus Draeger, a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG said;

“We are very happy with this solution. This fulfils the most important requirement for a successful future for the team. Our relationship with Peter Sauber has always been excellent and marked by absolute respect. We would like to express our thanks to Peter Sauber and the whole team for the excellent cooperation during the recent four years.

“I am very relieved that we have found this solution. It means we can keep the Hinwil location and the majority of workplaces. I am convinced that the new team has a very good future in Formula 1, whose current transformation with new framework conditions will benefit the private teams.

“Our staff here are highly competent and motivated, and I look forward to taking on this new challenge together with them. I would like to thank BMW for four shared years, that have in the main been very successful.”

Manor GP have announced that ex-Toyota driver Timo Glock will drive for the team in 2010.

Glock, who drove recently injured his rib cage missing the final 3 Grand Prix of 2009 has signed a 2 year deal with Manor, with the option for a third season on agreement from both parties.

Glock recently became available on the drivers market after his team Toyota pulled out of Formula 1.

More Soon.

Lotus F1 have announced today that they have signed their first driver for 2010, however have yet to release the name of said driver.

Tony Fernandes, via social media website Twitter announced:

“One Malaysia formula one team aka lotus has signed it’s first driver. Public announcement soon. The dream continues.”

In recent weeks Jarno Trulli has been strongly linked with a move to the new team, since Toyota’s demise, and CTO Mike Gascoigne hardly denying that they were interested in the driver. Lotus have also stated that they’re looking for experienced drivers in order to move the team forward with development, rather than cheaper rookie drivers.

If there were any dreams that the Toyota team may yet again rise from the ashes and “do a Brawn”, they have been quickly dashed as ex-Team Principal John Howett has confirmed that the team is not for sale. It appears that the option to put the team up for sale has,

“…already been discussed and rejected. Maybe these ideas can be reopened but, at the moment, it would appear not”

Assumingly by Toyota’s corporate management. This leaves existing employees and drivers in little doubt that they should be looking for new jobs in 2010. Timo Glock is rumoured to be looking at a Renault seat, whilst Jarno Trulli seems sure to be going to Lotus to fill their “experienced” driver expectations.

Fill-in driver Kamui Kobayashi remains the final question mark of the three, and arguably the most interesting after having an excellent final 2 races of the season filling in for injured Glock. Kobayashi previously said he’d love a Lotus seat, but that seems unlikely.

Recently unemployed Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi has expressed his interest in taking a seat with upcoming team Lotus F1 in 2010. Kobayashi, who impressed many in the F1 paddock in the final 2 races of the 2009 season when replacing injured Timo Glock, was linked with a permanent drive with Toyota. That was, until they suddenly quit the sport earlier this week.

Kobayashi spoke with TheF1Times, telling them,

“Obviously my seat there is gone, I was close to signing the contract for that season only, but with four new teams, and a couple of current ones with no confirmed drivers, there are options, but to the current teams, I am a ‘risk’, which isn’t very good for my morale really”

This would suggest Kobayashi and his management team have already had discussions with some of the key players in the paddock, not very successful ones. On Lotus specifically Kobayashi said,

“I do believe I’ll get a seat, if I had to choose a team, I’d choose Lotus. The name is enough really… I think for me, my options are the four new teams really.”

Whilst Kobayashi may be eyeing up a Lotus seat, he’ll likely find it a little difficult after Mike Gascoyne of Lotus F1 recently said that the team were focussed on experienced drivers only, specifically stating “We are not looking for pay drivers or new drivers”, of which Kobayashi is clearly the latter.

That said, his ex team Toyota are doing all they can to try and secure him, and his fellow Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima a race seat for 2010, since Nakajima has also lost out after being replaced by Williams test driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Kobayashi also recently revealed that if it all falls through in his F1 bid, he’ll be back to making sushi in his father’s restaurant. Our view: not the best way for a talented Formula One driver to spend the rest of his days!

For more information on the Formula 1 driver lineup for 2010, check out our Ultimate Guide.