Nico Rosberg announced as Mercedes driver in 2010

The growing Formula 1 speculation surrounding the potential return to the motorsport of one of its greatest champions, Michael Schumacher, has been fairly unequivocally quashed by the announcement by Mercedes GP (as was Brawn GP) that Nico Rosberg would be there first nominated driver next season. The 24-year-old, whose father Keke was drivers' champion in 1982, left Williams at the end of last season after five years with the team, and fulfills the desire of Mercedes' top brass to have German drivers racing for the team.

"I am very pleased that I will be in Mercedes' cockpit for the start of the 2010 Grand Prix season," Rosberg told the Times. "No other brand in Formula One has such a long and successful tradition. "I am very proud that I will race for the new team from the start and look forward to working with Ross Brawn." Rosberg finished last season in seventh place with 34.5 points and could have had a podium finish at the Singapore GP but for a minor violation in the pits.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who worked with Rosberg's father, hailed the signature of the German, saying: "Nico is a great talent and with four years of experience in Formula 1 is a driver who will be able to make a valuable contribution to our team right from the outset." Brawn also dismissed talk of a Schumacher return, telling German newspaper Bild that "the issue now haunts the media, I know, but there is nothing in it. The media are trying to put together a dream. Michael would have returned to the cockpit for Ferrari but only temporarily. He has no ambitions to start a new career."

It looks increasingly likely that Mercedes will look to the experienced Nick Heidfeld as their second driver, after Brawn stated the qualities that the team were looking for: "I do not want a novice who must find his way around racetracks because we have very few opportunities to test drivers now. Performance without much practice is therefore the task. The good thing is we are not in a hurry." ·