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Alguersuari to stay at Toro Rosso
ESPNF1 Staff
January 18, 2010
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Jaime Alguersuari will stay at Toro Rosso according to Red Bull's consultant Dr Helmut Marko © Sutton Images
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Red Bull insists Jaime Alguersuari will stay at Toro Rosso despite failing to confirm his contract.
Sebastian Buemi was named as a driver for the team in November but Alguersuari is still waiting on a finalised contract. Bruno Senna was linked to the drive recently, after it emerged that his Campos team was still looking for funding to make the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. However, Red Bull's motorsport consultant Dr Helmut Marko has rubbished the Senna rumours and set the record straight.
"It's not true, I've never heard about it," he told Italian website 422race.com. "It will be Alguersuari. It's just some contractual details that have to be solved, but generally it's Alguersuari.
With the Toro Rosso seats taken, there are five remaining spaces in F1 2010: Two at US F1, one at Campos, one at Renault and one at Sauber.
Jose Maria Lopez remains a front-runner for a US F1 drive and is expected to be bringing as much as US$8 million to the team in payment. Briton James Rossiter has also been rumoured to be in talks with the team, but no solid information about a deal has been reported. Team boss Peter Windsor has said he is in no rush to make an announcement.
Campos is looking for a pay driver to bolster its funds, meaning Vitaly Petrov, who has plenty of sponsorship behind him, is a prime candidate. In a recent interview team owner Adrian Campos said that the money he will receive from his second driver would all but complete the team's budget.
Renault is currently assessing five drivers for its remaining seat, with Nick Heidfeld, Romain Grosjean, Takuma Sato, Petrov and Ho-Pin Tung all understood to be on the list. The team said it will have a driver confirmed by its launch on January 31.
Giancarlo Fisichellais now the favourite to race at Sauber, after reports that Pedro de la Rosa would be announced as its driver last week proved to be unfounded. News that de la Rosa will take part in the opening test for McLaren also suggests he is out of the running. Nevertheless, team boss Peter Sauber insists the seat is still "open" and that he isn't under pressure to decide.
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