Fisichella to Sign Deal with Sauber F1 - Report

It seems Pedro de la Rosa is no longer favorite to grab the vacant racing seat with Swiss team Sauber F1 for the 2010 Formula One season. Although some previous media reports in Spain had suggested that De la Rosa’s signing a deal with Peter Sauber’s team was only a question of hours, it has now been revealed that the Spaniard will in fact continue his test-driving activities with McLaren Mercedes.

The news came via a Jenson Button interview this weekend. The 29-year old Brit was present at the Autosport International gala these past few days and told the media that he will actually take the new MP4-25 car to the track during the 3rd and last day of testing at the Valencia Ricardo Tormo circuit.

The testing is scheduled to run on February 1-3 and marks the beginning of the testing season this winter.

“I am testing on February 3. The first day is Pedro, then Lewis, and myself on the third day,” said Button, according to Autosport.

Consequently, Giancarlo Fisichella now remains favorite to take the job at Hinwil, especially since the Swiss publication Blick reported that the Roman flew briefly from Ferrari’s Wrooom event at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in northern Italy to Hinwil during the course of last Thursday.

As we’ve reported to you before, the Swiss outfit will benefit from Ferrari powertrain next season, and the Italian company is pressuring Peter Sauber to hand the remaining seat within his team to Fisichella (who recently signed a 10-year deal with the Scuderia).

While announcing that he’ll have his car ready by the Valencia testing in early February, Peter Sauber is yet to confirm his complete drivers’ lineup for 2010. For the time being, Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi is the only racer officially signed by Sauber F1.