Romain Grosjean insists he is ready to return to Europe to replace the injured Robert Kubica.
The Swiss-born Frenchman, who along with Bruno Senna is a third driver at Renault this year, is currently in Abu Dhabi for the start of the GP2 Asia series.

But at Jerez, Senna is driving the R31 this week, as experienced drivers including Nick Heidfeld, Pedro de la Rosa and Vitantonio Liuzzi are considered for the injured Kubica’s race seat in car number 9.

“I am ready to answer the call, but for now I’m here to race in GP2,” Grosjean, who tallied an unremarkable 7 debut grands prix with Renault in mid 2009, is quoted by L’Equipe.

“My goal and (management company) Gravity’s goal is for me to be in F1 in 2012, and we will work towards that step by step.

“If they do call me (for Kubica’s seat), I’ll go, but if they have something else in mind, I accept it as a member of the team.

“I will always support the team and, at the moment, all of my thoughts are with Robert,” added 24-year-old Grosjean.

Another candidate reportedly discounted for Kubica’s seat by team boss Boullier is Force India reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg.

“In my eyes, he is the best person available,” former driver Jos Verstappen wrote in his latest column for De Telegraaf newspaper.

“I see the German with great potential; very fast, a hard worker and a winner in many classes of racing.”

Speaking to reporters at Jerez on Thursday, however, Boullier said Hulkenberg is not a candidate because of his lack of experience.

Nick Heidfeld has been selected to drive in injured Robert Kubica’s place this season, according to a German report.

Lotus-sponsored Renault has already announced that German Heidfeld, 33, will be testing at Jerez this weekend, but only as “a potential replacement” for car number 9.

But the German newspaper Bild-Zeitung claims grand prix veteran Heidfeld will also be racing in March and beyond.

The newspaper said he has had a seat fitting for the R31 at Enstone.

A Renault source told Bild: “(Vitaly) Petrov is relatively inexperienced. In order to exhaust the full potential of the car, we definitely need a strong and experienced man.

“And the team has already been talking with Heidfeld in the past years,” added the source.

Indeed, Heidfeld was a contender for the race seat alongside Kubica this year, as Renault earlier considered ousting Petrov.

But for the moment, Renault is not confirming the news.

A spokesman told DPA news agency that it would be “inappropriate” to take a decision “while Kubica is still in intensive care”.

And it is still rumoured that Tonio Liuzzi could be called up for an evaluation for the Barcelona test.

“We must wait for the Jerez tests now, and thankfully the Barcelona ones too,” confirmed team owner Gerard Lopez.

Referring to Heidfeld specifically, he added: “We all know that Nick is rather good, but we don’t know what level he is in now, we don’t know how he does with our car.

“Same goes for Vitantonio Liuzzi, same goes – I don’t know – for Bruno Senna, who last year was in a team with a car that could do nothing,” said Lopez.

Nico Hulkenberg’s manager Willi Weber, however, is convinced: “Nick Heidfeld is going to race,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Nico Rosberg has shrugged off his allocation of the higher car number at Mercedes for the second season in succession.

Last year, with Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement, Rosberg agreed to relinquish the lower number 3 because the returning seven time world champion is “a bit superstitious” and prefers to wear odd race numbers.

Schumacher went on to score 70 fewer points than his younger cohort but, for the forthcoming 2011 season, Mercedes has once again agreed to allocate the premier odd number (7) to the 42-year-old.

“We talked about it in the team about a month ago,” Rosberg told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper. “Michael wanted the number 7.

“First, because he is superstitious and thinks odd numbers are luckier, and secondly because of his 7 world championships. I had no problem with that.

“Anyway, the number 7 has only ever caused me bad luck in my career so I’m happy with 8,” smiled Rosberg, 25.

Meanwhile, Rosberg said he was in Mercedes’ driver simulator at Brackley last week where he got to grips with the additional buttons for 2011, including to charge and deploy KERS and operate the adjustable rear wing.

“At the beginning it was very difficult,” he admitted. “There are so many things to consider at the same time.”

If another driver had lurked beneath Michael Schumacher’s red helmet in 2010, boss Ross Brawn has admitted Mercedes GP might have ousted him.

British television pundit Eddie Jordan, Schumacher’s first ever F1 boss, said in Singapore after the German’s incident strewn run to 13th place that he “would sack him”.

“He’s clearly not good enough on this performance we’ve seen,” the Irishman charged.

Asked a similar question by F1′s official website, Mercedes GP chief Brawn admitted on Wednesday that – if Schumacher was not the famous seven time world champion and record-setting legend – the struggling occupant of this year’s car number 3 might have been shown the door.

“To be honest, probably not,” said the Briton when asked if he would have persevered with a different driver showing Schumacher’s current level of performance.

“But because we know Michael, we know that there is still a lot to come because Michael is in many fields more talented than others — in driving and in the cooperation with the team,” insisted Brawn.

“The team are very happy with the way Michael is contributing. If he were a rookie we surely would have asked ourselves if he has the capacity to advance. With Michael we know that he has,” he added.

Brawn rubbished suggestions Schumacher is on the verge of returning to retirement, and also that he might instead switch to a management role for 2011.

“I have never talked to him about such an option,” he answered.

“He is a very intelligent man with a balanced family life. I don’t know if he really wants to do that to himself.

“As team principal you don’t get the same adrenalin rush as when you are driving a car. What you get is a 10 to 12-hour working day and I am not sure if that would satisfy or motivate him,” said Brawn.

There have also been rumblings of discontent within Mercedes and particularly between Brawn and Norbert Haug, but Brawn insisted he is not about to give up.

“Of course I will retire one day, but I want to step down when I’m successful and not in a situation like I’m facing now,” he said.

“It’s sad that such rumours always get around. But let’s be clear — none of us are happy with the performance this year, and of course Mercedes want to know how and when we will improve.

“But nobody needs to tell me that it is important to win. And probably we can still improve the relationship between Brackley and the Mercedes engine factory, but Mercedes is very open to all suggestions,” continued Brawn.

“So at the moment there are no problems whatsoever. They will come if we are not able to improve in the future.”

He was asked if 2011 is the deadline for Brawn and Schumacher.

“Next year would probably be too early (to give up),” said Brawn. “I like this team. We have gone through many things together. I would never leave the team in an unclear situation.”

From the perspective of spare fresh engines in the bank, championship leader Mark Webber has an advantage in the five-race run to the 2010 finale.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have each used their full allocation of eight engines for the season, meaning that if they need to use more engines in 2010, they will incur ten-place grid penalties.

“We preferred to use a new engine at Monza and then manage the mileage for the next five races,” team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have used 7 engines apiece, so they each have a spare engine in the bag.

“The McLaren drivers (are a threat) because they look to have a bit more reliability up their sleeve with engines, and we don’t know what’s going to go on at the end of the year,” Webber said in an interview with BBC Sport.

Also having used 7 engines so far are the Mercedes, Force India, Toro Rosso, HRT, Virgin and Lotus drivers, Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.

Sebastian Vettel has a spare Renault engine in the bank, but Webber has two fresh engines still to fit in the rear of his RB6.

“Singapore should suit us if Monaco is anything to go by,” said the Australian, who won that famous street race in May.

“We’ve seen performance move around a little bit – not much – against the form card but on paper the next few circuits look like they should be good for us,” added Webber.

Also with two spare engines left are the works Renault drivers, and Williams’ Rubens Barrichello.

Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa, meanwhile, ran out of engines in Belgium last month, forcing him ten places down the grid after a ninth Ferrari unit was installed.

Nick Heidfeld is now taking over car number 22, meaning that if a tenth engine needs to be fitted at any of the five remaining races this season, it will be the German serving a grid penalty.