Mad scramble for F1 seats continue

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Date: 22nd November 2013 at 9:06am
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Throughout the Formula One paddock there is a mass scramble for seats to be part of the 2014 FIA F1 World Championship.

Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Toro Rosso are the only teams who have announced who their drive line-ups will be for next season.

While that may well be over half the pit-lane, that still leaves nine seats officially available.

At Lotus, Romain Grosjean looks set to take one of the two available seats, while Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Heikki Kovalainen, have been linked with the other seat.

At Force India, both current drivers Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil, would like to remain with the team, while Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez have also been linked.

At Sauber, Nico Hulkenberg has been promised his seat remains available to him if he doesn’t choose to depart for either Lotus or Force India. While a return to the team for Sergio Perez doesn’t seem completely out of the question.

However Russian pair Sergey Sirotkin and Vitaly Petrov have also been heavily linked, while current driver Esteban Gutierrez also remains in the frame and with the backing of Venezuelan Oil company PDVSA Pastor Maldonado could also be an option following Sauber’s recent financial problems.

At the two newbie teams, only one seat has been confirmed so far and that is of Ferrari development driver Jules Bianchi and Marussia. Max Chilton appears to now be favourite to keep his seat at the team following McLaren’s decision to name Kevin Magnussen at the expense of Sergio Perez.

At Caterham, Frenchman Charles Pic, Dutchman Giedo Van Der Garde and reserve driver Heikki Kovalainen all remain options, as does 23-year-old Swedish GP2 driver Marcus Ericsson.

‘For next year, the logic for me would be to stay in Caterham but it’s not sure.

‘I think there are still many seats available for next year, so we will see.

‘We try to focus on the races we have and give our best this weekend, try to get a good result for the team and then we’ll see what happens for next year.’ Pic told the BBC ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.