IN THE LAND OF BLACK GOLD - Grandprixplus

makes him an offer of a race drive.
This means that more than likely Senna
will be on the market and while his sponsorships
might be attractive to Force India, the team's
future might not be as attractive as the Williams.
The problem is that there are not many drives
left and Senna cannot really afford to sit around
in a reserve role. He could go to Caterham, which
is looking for cash. There have been rumours
that Charles Pic is a possible driver there as well,
although he is probably talking to Force India as
well. Pic's connections are more likely to be of use
with a team that has a Renault engine.
Vitaly Petrov, Giedo Van der Garde, Davide
Valsecchi and Luis Razia are all rumoured to be
kicking around with money as well. A logical move
would be for Petrov to join forces with Marussia to
create a solidly Russian, in preparation for the first
Russian Grand Prix, which is due to take place in
2014. Max Chilton is also being strongly tipped to
be Marussia driver in 2013.
HRT is said to be keen to generate money
for Ma Qing Hua (above). The Chinese driver is seen
as a good way to increase F1's popularity in China
- another market that F1 is keen to expand into. It
is logical for the sport to be looking seriously as
increasing its support in the BRIC countries, as these
are where the economies are developing fastest:
Brazil, Russia, India and China.
There is much talk of teams being for sale,
as well, but as always in these matters, talk does
not always lead to anything concrete.
At the moment, money is key. v
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