MOTORSPORT: Schumacher out? Hamilton for Mercedes?

But overshadowing all may be a mega move in Formula One -- Lewis Hamilton to leave McLaren for the Mercedes factory team.

McLaren wants to keep the 2008 world champion whose six-year F1 career has been entirely in its cars, but it seems it wants him to take a pay cut on his huge salary negotiated before the global financial crisis. At the same time, seven-time world champ Michael Schumacher is nearing the end of his three-year comeback contract with Mercedes and – with just one podium during it - may bow out for good at the end of this season.

Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan, who gave Schumacher his start at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix and is now a specialist commentator for the BBC, has said:  “It would appear Michael is leaving and Lewis is arriving at Mercedes. I believe Hamilton and Mercedes have already agreed personal terms and a deal could be imminent.”

There have been denials left, right and centre, but Hamilton had spoken to Red Bull and Ferrari and upset his team last weekend by tweeting sensitive technical data. All cannot be right between him and McLaren, and if Schumacher goes he is the obvious driver for Mercedes to pick – for his sublime talent and marketability.

F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone fuelled talk of Schumacher’s second retirement in an interview with Jordan, then said he wasn’t sure whether it was happening.

Typical Ecclestone. It will suit him well to have weeks of talk about Schumacher and Hamilton on top of what could be a thrilling climax to a great world championship season.

Hamilton (who has won two GPs this year, and McLaren the past two) has said he just wants to win and is “in a great position” to negotiate.

“It is just making sure you are in the right place [to win],” he said.

“I don’t have a deadline [on signing a contract].”

Schumacher has said for ages that his future won’t be settled, or at least announced, until October. And Mercedes has said it is still “some way off” on finalising its driver line-up for next year.

Nico Rosberg, who gave Merc its first F1 victory since its takeover of Ross Brawn’s 2009 championship-winning team at this year’s Chinese GP, is locked into the other seat – unless he suddenly scoots off to Ferrari. (Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and perhaps even Adrian Sutil appear to have the inside running to replace Felipe Massa there).

Brawn, who has continued running the Mercedes team, has said: “We want to be a team that every driver wants to drive for. We haven’t got there yet, but if we achieve what we want to achieve then we can put ourselves in a position where every driver in F1 would consider driving for us.

“Coming to the conclusion on our drivers [for next year] will take some time,” he said.

That means either that Mercedes is awaiting Schumacher’s decision on whether he wants to stay or go, or that they have agreed not to announce his retirement yet.

McLaren has said it is in advanced negotiations with Hamilton’s management to renew his contract. Its financial position is handicapped somewhat by having to pay from next year for the Mercedes engines it has used for free for so long. (It's also taking a close interest in the new electric world championship to start in 2014).

Hamilton’s manager is Simon Fuller, the man who was behind the Spice Girls and more recently soccer star David Beckham.

Eddie Jordan said Fuller was “trying to position Hamilton as a major global star, like Beckham, and Mercedes is a much bigger global brand than McLaren”.

This weekend it is the Italian GP, at which the driver jigsaw for the following season usually falls into place. Not this year, it seems.

Jenson Button, winner in Melbourne in March and at Spa in Belgium last weekend for McLaren, said yesterday he expected Hamilton to remain his teammate next season.

Then again, he wasn’t sure.

If Hamilton is on the move to Mercedes it raises the question of who would replace him at McLaren. Scotsman Paul Di Resta is a possibility, having impressed (until recently overshadowed by Hulkenberg at Mercedes-engined Force India) and previously having been tipped as a successor to Schumacher at the manufacturer’s team.

Then there’s Kimi Raikkonen, who has raced for McLaren before and been coy on his whereabouts next year, although it seems Lotus may be close to satisfying the performance requirements in his contract either to keep him there or ensure it is paid well if he departs for another team.

Australia’s world title contender Mark Webber has now admitted that Belgium, where he finished only sixth for Red Bull after Ferrari’s championship leader Fernando Alonso was eliminated in a first-corner crash, was “a missed opportunity”.

“Third place was possible if we’d done everything right,” Webber said.

“The car was strong in the wrong parts of the track and we opted for the wrong strategy. I felt pretty competitive most of the weekend at Spa though, so I’ve got a good feeling about the car going into Monza. The grid could be very mixed up [again].”

Webber conceded he needed some “very strong performances” in the remaining eight races.

Having dropped a place to third in the title chase behind teammate Sebastian Vettel, Webber said: “I’m not even thinking about the championship at this stage. My sole objective is to get the maximum from each event and then we’ll see where we are at the end of the year.”

Meanwhile, 40-year-old British engineer James Key has been confirmed as the new technical director of Red Bull’s junior F1 team Scuderia Toro Rosso, for which young Australian Daniel Ricciardo races.

Key, who was with similarly Ferrari-engined Swiss team Sauber last year, has replaced dumped Italian Giorgio Ascanelli, who was blamed for the Toro Rossos not progressing after a promising start in Melbourne and Malaysia.

That’s despite Briscoe having been first and second in the past two races.

“We’ve told Ryan it would be okay for him to go look and try to understand what’s out there because our deal will come together late,” Penske’s Tom Cindric said.

“We haven’t told him yes and we haven’t told him no. We want him to land on his feet, whether it’s with us or someone else.”

There is talk around IndyCar that Briscoe, sixth in the championship standings, could end up back at Chip Ganassi’s team where he began his American career after missing out on an F1 race drive with the now-defunct Toyota team.

Meanwhile, Penske has hired 22-year-old Joey Logano as the full-time replacement next year in its NASCAR Sprint Cup team for AJ Allmendinger, who was suspended in July for drug use.

Penske also hopes to field a third Cup entry at selected rounds for temporary Allmendinger substitute, Sam Hornish Junior.

Penske will switch from Dodges to Fords in NASCAR next season, while top Ford driver Matt Kenseth (who announced weeks ago he would leave the Roush Fenway team at the end of this season) has been confirmed at the Joe Gibbs Toyota team, which squeezed out Logano.

Teenager Brabham, driving for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, was in scintillating form last weekend on the streets of Baltimore, where F2000 was a support category to IndyCar. He scored his fourth win in the series with a dominant start-to-finish victory in the second race there.

In the earlier race of the weekend he finished second after a trip down the escape road at the first corner. Brabham had pole position for both races.

Zanardi’s success came at the Brands Hatch race circuit where he had raced successfully in Formula 3000 and the World Touring Car Championship – the latter with his prosthetic legs after his horrendous Champ Car accident in Germany 11 years ago.

The 45-year-old called his gold medal “a fantastic conclusion to a magical adventure”.

Ford Performance Racing team principal Tim Edwards said the testing at Winton in northern Victoria had been “unbelievably successful”, with Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison both driving.

“Everything ran as well as we could’ve planned, if not better,” Edwards said.

The shakedown included 80 laps for the benefit of V8 Supercar technical officials “so they could evaluate some transaxle cooling options”.

“This information will be passed on to the other teams and I must say all three options ran successfully and potentially could all be used at the first race next year,” Edwards said.

Winterbottom reported that he was “instantly happy with the gearshift”, unlike Jamie Whincup after his initial run in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Car of the Future Holden, and that “the brakes are a lot better”.

FPR will test the new Falcon again at Winton next Monday.

Canberra is a traditional stronghold of Australian rallying and has produced four ARC champions but has not had a round of the championship for five years.

The event will be run by the Brindabella Motor Sports Club and has support from the ACT government. It will begin with a twilight stage on tarmac on the Friday, with the gravel competition over the weekend in the Brindabella Mountains and Kowen Forest.