It would also raise plenty of questions for McLaren, who are still getting
over the fact that they lost Lewis
Hamilton to the German manufacturer.
The 2008 world champion was in Stuttgart yesterday, touring the Mercedes-Benz
headquarters and speaking to the workforce there.
Hamilton, who predicted last autumn that he would not win a race in his first
year with the team, declared himself more optimistic.
“Of course it’s going to be tough to compete, to beat the guys that are
already at the front like the Red Bulls and the Ferraris and McLarens but I
don’t think it’s impossible,” he said.
Meanwhile, Timo Glock’s departure from Marussia was confirmed yesterday, with
the team blaming the “tough economic conditions”.
It leaves Britain’s newest Formula One driver, 21-year-old Max Chilton,
without a team-mate for the time being. Vitaly Petrov, Luiz Razia, Sebastien
Buemi and Bruno Senna are among the names to have been mooted for the vacant
seat. Marussia team principal John Booth said: “We will provide an update
regarding the completion of our driver line-up in due course.”