Brits on Pole would just like confirm that neither of its editorial team will be signing with McLaren to partner Lewis Hamilton next season. And if you’re not either, then that makes three of us.
The rest of the world, we’re not so sure about.
Speculation about who’s on their way to Woking, fuelled by a total lack of hard facts, is starting to get a bit silly. Hamilton himself, speaking at a season-ending celebration for Mercedes, suggested Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil or Heikki Kovalainen.
We were amused by Sutil’s manager’s optimism earlier this week when he said he hadn’t heard from McLaren: perhaps we spoke too soon. But it would be a tremendous leap of faith for Ron Dennis to try it – far greater than when Jaguar plucked Justin Wilson from Minardi on the basis of some good starts, which is the closest parallel we can think of.
Williams, which has a vacancy that could very easily turn out to be Sutil-shaped, has come out fighting against a Rosberg candidacy. Co-owner Patrick Head said in Sunday’s media: “We are planning to go into next season with Nico as our lead driver, and we would not entertain any approach from McLaren for Nico.”
And just to muddy the waters, he made what so far takes the prize for most outlandish, yet horribly fascinating, suggestion: Michael Schumacher.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Head said: “Michael’s still fit, and probably bored. I suspect he has found sitting on the pit wall dull. Ron Dennis has proved to be a lateral thinker, which is why I am musing over the idea that he might look to Schumacher.”
It can only be a matter of time before someone suggests the freshly-retired Mika Hakkinen.