The same publication revealed that Mercedes and Heidfeld shook hands on the test/reserve deal, but the contract is yet to be signed. However, an official confirmation from the German marque is expected to be made public in the next few days.
“Nick wants to concentrate fully on his job as test driver and support the regular drivers with his experience. Nick had focused on having a (race) cockpit with the top teams, but their decisions were rather late. So we've gone for another opportunity,” Heidfeld's manager Andre Theuerzeit said, according to the aforementioned source.
Until now, Mercedes’ motorsport boss Norbert Haug avoided to talk too much on the reserve driver position within the Brackley based team, saying that his organization will not hurry into taking a decision.
In recent weeks, some reports suggested that Marcus Ericsson was on the verge of signing such a deal with Mercedes GP. He tested for the Brackley team back in December, during the rookie testing session at Jerez, and recently signed a deal to step into the GP2 Series in 2010.
As for Heidfeld, the German was also on Renault’s list for the 2010 drivers’ lineup, but recent reports have suggested that the new management of the Enstone based team – Genii Capital – will go for a pay driver this year. Most likely, we’re talking about Russian driver Vitaly Petrov, believed to benefit from 15M euro of backing from Russian investors.
Google News