Despite playing down the rumours mere days ago, Virgin boss John Booth on Friday confirmed Robert Wickens as the team’s new reserve driver.
It had been reported Canadian Wickens, 22, backed substantially by Virgin team sponsor and investor Marussia, was set to join the British based team.

But Booth said two weeks ago: “Robert is concentrating on his Renault series.”

However, Virgin Racing announced on Friday that he has signed on as a 2011 reserve driver alongside Japanese Sakon Yamamoto.

“Toronto-born Robert will attend each of the remaining grands prix where there is no clash with the Formula Renault 3.5 series, with effect from next weekend’s Canadian grand prix”, said the team.

“We are delighted to welcome him to Virgin Racing’s roster of reserve drivers,” said Booth.

It has been reported Wickens is first in line should race driver Jerome d’Ambrosio’s sponsors continue to delay their payments.

Robert Wickens is set to be confirmed as Virgin’s new reserve driver.
We reported late last month that the 22-year-old Canadian was at the front of the queue for the role after Sakon Yamamoto’s contract covered only the first races of 2011.

But some unknown problems held up the deal, despite Wickens being strongly backed in the Formula Renault 3.5 series by Virgin’s Russian sponsor and shareholder Marussia.

The Toronto newspaper Globe and Mail insists the hurdles have now been overcome and Wickens – who attended the recent Turkish grand prix with Virgin – will be unveiled this week as reserve driver in time for Barcelona.

A Friday driving role is also on the cards, amid recent rumours it will be Wickens who takes over the race cockpit if Jerome d’Ambrosio’s sponsors do not pay up.

Bruno Senna looks to have bowed out of formula one after a single season.
HRT team boss Colin Kolles admitted on Friday that the Brazilian, whose uncle was the late and great Ayrton Senna, will not be Narain Karthikeyan’s teammate at the Spanish team in 2011.

“I can definitely say that Mr Bruno Senna is not going to race for HRT. 100 per cent not,” Kolles told Reuters news agency.

He said HRT’s other 2010 drivers Christian Klien and Sakon Yamamoto are still in the frame, but did not mention Karthikeyan’s Indian countryman Karun Chandhok.

And admit speculation Vitantonio Liuzzi looks set to be ousted by Force India, Kolles told Autosport that HRT might field a “surprise” for the second cockpit because “maybe some drivers who have contracts might not have seats”.

Christian Klien will follow up his Interlagos race seat with another grand prix outing for the HRT team in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

A hint about the struggling Spanish team’s driver lineup for the 2010 finale came earlier this week, when it emerged that Austrian Klien had travelled from Brazil to the Middle East while Japanese regular Sakon Yamamoto was still in Tokyo.

As was the case in Brazil, HRT is shedding no light on the reasons for the Yamamoto substitution.

But it is believed the team is hoping to luck into a good result late this season in order to beat Lotus to the coveted tenth place in the constructors’ standings.

Klien, 27, has appeared to be the most competitive of the four drivers fielded this year by HRT, including Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok.

“It’s my third chance to compete for the team this season and I’m getting more and more used to the car and the crew,” said the Austrian, who will be learning the Yas Marina layout on Friday.

Christian Klien has travelled to Abu Dhabi this week hoping to get another race outing with the Spanish team.

Without an official reason being given, the team’s Austrian reserve driver replaced Japanese regular Sakon Yamamoto in Brazil and significantly outqualified team regular Bruno Senna.

His race was then ruined after his car stopped on the way to the grid, but team boss Colin Kolles praised his ability to “easily keep up with the other new teams’ pace”.

But Klien is not sure he will be back in the driving seat for the 2010 finale this weekend.

“I hope so, but I haven’t even asked,” he is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

Klien is already thinking further ahead, and welcomes the news that HRT, to use a Williams gearbox in 2011, has a new financial investor. It is also believed that the basis of the team’s next car will be the 2010 Toyota.

“In any case, the team will be an attractive employer for 2011,” said Klien.

Christian Klien will be back in action for the HRT team at this weekend’s Brazilian grand prix.

The Austrian also replaced Japanese Sakon Yamamoto in Singapore due to food poisoning, but no reason has been given for the change of drivers ahead of the Interlagos event.

“I am very happy to get a second opportunity to do another grand prix here after Singapore and I hope that we are doing a good weekend with positive results,” said Klien, 27.

He has raced at Interlagos twice before, most recently in 2005 with Red Bull.

The Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung said recently Klien might return to the Cosworth-powered F110 cockpit in Brazil or Abu Dhabi in a last-ditch effort to help HRT beat Lotus to tenth place in the constructors’ championship.

After Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Christian Klien could return to the wheel of the HRT for one or both of the remaining races of 2010.

That is the claim of the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, recalling the 27-year-old’s strong performance with the struggling Spanish team in Singapore recently.

With his apparent food poisoning gone, Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto returned to the Cosworth-powered car in Japan and Korea.

But Kleine Zeitung said HRT is now considering putting reserve driver Klien back in the car for Brazil or Abu Dhabi, in a last-ditch effort to beat Lotus to tenth place in the constructors’ world championship.

Lotus has been the best of the three new teams in 2010, but neither it, HRT or Virgin has scored a single point.

Lotus is currently tenth due to Heikki Kovalainen’s 12th place finish at Suzuka, but an eleventh for HRT or Virgin at Interlagos or Yas Marina next month would see Lotus overhauled.

Only the top ten constructors share in the annual distribution of prize-money under the provisions of the Concorde Agreement.

Klien said in Yeongam that 2010 has shown that some pay-drivers are not necessarily the best value for F1 teams relying on the lucrative Bernie Ecclestone income.

“There is one at Virgin and Renault, and possibly two at Hispania,” he said.

But Klien acknowledged that a surprise result for HRT with the F110 car is unlikely.

“We are the only team that, since the season opener in Bahrain, has not aerodynamically improved its car,” he said.

He is therefore more hopeful about 2011.

“In March next year, I definitely see myself in a formula one cockpit,” said Klien.

According to the latest rumour in the F1 paddock, Karun Chandhok may be in talks with Lotus about joining Tony Fernandes’ team for 2011.

The rumour was aired on British television on Saturday morning from Korea, with pit reporter Ted Kravitz saying the Indian driver could become reserve driver before moving into the race cockpit in 2012.

Kravitz quoted a Lotus team member as admitting that the 26-year-old Indian, who made his debut with HRT this year before being sidelined by the better-funded Sakon Yamamoto, is a “great guy”.

Chandhok said this week that he is hopeful his F1 career has not floundered permanently after just half a season.

“There is a lot to discuss for next year with the HRT team, but also with other teams to see what other options are available for me, but I do feel good about my prospects,” he is quoted by The National newspaper.

UK-based Chandhok has not attended the most recent Japanese and Korean grands prix.

Organisers of the Japanese grand prix say they would like to continue to host the formula one race at Suzuka beyond the 2011 contract.

But with Honda, Super Aguri, Toyota and the popular Takuma Sato all departed, and Bridgestone supplying tyres for the last season, Suzuka and Kamui Kobayashi and Sakon Yamamoto represent a fading Japanese involvement in the sport.

“It’s under discussion, but we would like to continue,” Itaru Yamada, motor sport managing director of the Honda-owned Mobilityland company, told Reuters on Sunday when asked about a new race contract for 2012.

Despite eager fans happily and patiently sitting under Saturday’s torrential rain, the media report said there are 50,000 fewer spectators at Suzuka on Sunday compared with four years ago.

And Yamada said the event is currently only marginally profitable.

HRT will publish the names of its race drivers for the Japanese grand prix “as soon as possible”, a team spokesman said on Wednesday.

The struggling Spanish outfit sent out a confusing message on Tuesday by issuing a pre-Suzuka press release that didn’t mention any of its four contracted drivers.

Team boss Colin Kolles later clarified that the lineup will be Bruno Senna alongside Sakon Yamamoto, but declined to guarantee the pair will actually drive all weekend in Japan.

A team spokesman then said that after travelling from Europe to Japan, he will endeavour to provide driver’s quotes to the media “as soon as possible”.

Another team spokesperson told Auto Motor und Sport that HRT is not planning to change its regular driver lineup for Suzuka, after Christian Klien replaced Yamamoto in Singapore because the Japanese apparently had food poisoning.

“As normal it will be Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna,” she said.

Austrian media reports said reserve driver Klien travelled to Japan on Tuesday.

As far as the FIA is concerned, Yamamoto will be at the wheel of one of the Cosworth-powered F110s this weekend, having summoned him to Thursday afternoon’s official press conference.

“But no knowing if that means he’ll be in the car on Friday,” wrote BBC commentator Jonathan Legard on Twitter. “Sushi food poisoning this time?”

HRT on Tuesday did not reveal the identity of its race drivers for this weekend’s Japanese grand prix.

Sakon Yamamoto, who earlier this year replaced team regular Karun Chandhok, sat out the recent Singapore round with what the struggling Spanish outfit said was food poisoning.

Reserve driver Christian Klien stepped into the cockpit, impressing with his pace despite admitting the Singapore outing was a “one-off”.

The Austrian’s Singapore GP teammate Bruno Senna has also sat out a race this year – July’s British grand prix – amid speculation HRT is selecting its drivers based on their current financial endowments.

The uncertainty about HRT’s Suzuka lineup was triggered on Tuesday, when the team’s traditional pre-event press release did not mention any of the team’s contracted drivers Yamamoto, Klien, Senna or Chandhok.

“The Spanish team is eager to keep on improving and showing another positive performance,” read the statement.

The statement’s only quote was attributed to boss Colin Kolles.

“After our unfortunate race in Singapore, we look ahead and want to bring both cars to the finish line again,” he said.

Another possible reason for Christian Klien’s graduation to the HRT race cockpit became clearer at Singapore on Saturday.

On Friday, team boss Colin Kolles announced that the Spanish team’s reserve driver would be taking over from Sakon Yamamoto for this race due to the Japanese driver suffering from food poisoning.

Asked if Yamamoto will be back in the car at Suzuka in two weeks, he said: “This is what we expect, yes.”

But it should be noted that Klien’s surprise chance in Singapore coincided with the emergence on the car of a new sponsor sticker.

The ‘Upsynth’ branding on the rollhoop of the Cosworth powered F110 under the Singapore lights was not present two weeks ago at Monza.

Upsynth is an Austrian brand of absinthe, a highly alcoholic beverage, hailing from Vorarlberg. Klien, 27, was born in the same west Austrian state.

“It’s nice that we succeeded in getting at very short notice a new partner like Upsynth,” he confirmed.

His HRT race cockpit debut has been very successful so far, outqualifying team regular Bruno Senna by more than a second on Saturday night.

“If I manage to help the team as reserve driver, then my mission is fulfilled for the time being,” said Klien.

“It has been quite difficult because it is a new track and practically a new car for me. But we are a long way from Lotus and Virgin.”

Klien told German television Sky that he is hoping to secure a full race seat for the 2011 season.

“You have to make the best of your chances and I think I did that in qualifying. Of course my goal is a race seat and for sure this weekend is very important,” said the Austrian.

His new sponsorship should help pay for a whopping EUR 14,400 in FIA fines for twice breaching the 60kph pitlane speed limit.

Karun Chandhok on Saturday refused to buy into a conspiracy theory surrounding the occupant of his old HRT race cockpit this weekend.

Many paddock figures were bemused on Friday when, as it emerged that Sakon Yamamoto was holed up in his Singapore hotel with food poisoning, it was Christian Klien who was called up to replace the Japanese.

Indian Chandhok started the season in the Cosworth-powered car, and has been attending every race since he was sidelined in the hope of returning to the wheel.

“He had his chance,” team boss Colin Kolles said. “I think Christian also deserved a chance.”

And as for whether Yamamoto really has food poisoning, amid suggestions his sponsor funding might simply have dried up, Chandhok would not be drawn.

“I haven’t spoken to Sakon. I have no idea if he is sitting on the toilet or not,” he smiled.

Yamamoto, 28, in fact watched qualifying from within the HRT garage, as his stand-in Klien outqualified Bruno Senna’s sister car by more than a full second.

Sakon Yamamoto will not be driving in Singapore this weekend because he has food poisoning, HRT team boss Colin Kolles said before Friday’s initial evening practice practice.

The Japanese driver, who due to his powerful Japanese sponsors replaced team regular Karun Chandhok earlier this season, will be replaced by Christian Klien.

Austrian Klien, 27, a former Honda and BMW test driver, is the struggling Spanish team’s reserve driver, with almost 50 grands prix of experience with Jaguar and Red Bull.

Despite saying he thinks Yamamoto has food poisoning, Kolles said he cannot guarantee the 28-year-old will be recovered by his home race in Japan in two weeks.

The mechanic injured during Sakon Yamamoto’s Monza pitstop is still in hospital, the HRT team has revealed.

The German radio mechanic, whose first name is Marco, was nursing broken bones and concussion after being struck violently by Japanese Yamamoto’s rear wing and wheel.

He is “recovering positively”, the Spanish team said in a statement late on Monday.

“He is supposed to leave the hospital in Italy soon, where he was kept under observation and go back to Germany, his home country,” added Hispania.