First it was Fernando Alonso signing on with McLaren.

Then Kimi Raikkonen probably signed on with Ferrari.

Then, last week, Man-mountain Wurz signing on with Williams.

Then we had the whole Jack Newtown/Robert Kubica thing.

Well, now it's all starting to shake out.

Newtown is out of a drive at BMW-Sauber, effective last week. It appears the whole "I'm injured" thing was a face-saving ploy for Jack, as BMW came to him and said 'we want to take a look at Kubica, and we won't guarantee that you'll get to drive again.' After Hungary, it looks pretty clear that he'd never be allowed within 50 feet of the car again.

Mark "Nick Heidfeld" Webber, who will be unseated by Man-mountain in 2007 at Williams, has been signed by Red Bull. This puts Christian Klien on the skids.

We've also heard rumblings from the Ferrari camp that Ross Brawn is planning on a one-year sabbatical, and team principal Jean Todt's contract is up at the end of the season.

My question is: Why all of this now?

It's been pretty clear that the Driver Market has been stalled, waiting for Parky Schumacher to 'make up his mind' about retiring. With his most recent bit of street theatre in the books (cutting the chicane, passing under the red flag), one begins to suspect a whiff of desperation from M. Schumacher... could it be that he's finally decided that this is the proverbial 'It'?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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