F1’s notorious ‘silly season’ has shifted into an even higher gear at the scene of the Canadian grand prix.
Hopefuls who are limbering up on the sidelines of the sport, or doing time with smaller outfits, are eying the stragglers of the 2007 field — including Ralf Schumacher, Heikki Kovalainen and Alex Wurz, according to reports.
The Spanish newspaper Diario As claims to know that Schumacher, who in Montreal dropped out in the ‘Q1′ qualifying cut for the third time in as many races, will be replaced at Toyota in the coming weeks not by Timo Glock or Adrian Sutil, but the Japanese team’s test driver Franck Montagny.
Specialist German publication Auto Motor und Sport also weighed into the silly season rumours, speculating that Heikki Kovalainen’s mistake-strewn Canadian campaign would have moved Renault’s team management one step closer to replacing him with young test driver Nelson Piquet Jr.
Williams’ Alex Wurz has also had a bad weekend in Canada, bringing his qualifying record against teammate Nico Rosberg to 0:6.
Auto Motor und Sport said GP2 frontrunner and BMW tester Timo Glock, already linked with Ralf’s Toyota seat, has already stirred the interest of Sir Frank Williams, while Sebastien Bourdais’ manager Nicolas Todt has also spoken to the Grove chief.
Williams, however, is reportedly most impressed with the rookie Scot Paul di Resta, a standout in the DTM series so far in 2007.