It’s official, minus one driver. The FIA has released the official drivers lineup for 2008. Despite Super Aguri not yet officially naming Anthony davidson and Takuma Sato as their 2008 drivers, they do appear on the FIA entry list. Because of the McLaren DQ from the constructors championship last season, they get the last 2 numbers.

Number	Drivers	Team	Constructor
1 2	Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Felipe Massa (BR)	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari
3 4	Nick Heidfeld (D) Robert Kubica (PL)	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber
5 6	Fernando Alonso (E) Nelson Piquet (BR)	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault
7 8	Nico Rosberg (D) Kazuki Nakajima (J)	AT&T Williams	Williams Toyota
9 10	David Coulthard (GB) Mark Webber (AUS)	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Renault
11 12	Jarno Trulli (I) Timo Glock(D)	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Panasonic
14 15	Sébastien Bourdais (F) Sebastian Vettel (D)	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR Ferrari
16 17	Jenson Button (GB) Rubens Barrichello (BR)	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda
18 19	Takuma SATO (J) Anthony Davidson (GB)	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri Honda
20 21	Adrian Sutil (D) TBA	Force India Formula 1 Team	Force India
22 23	Lewis Hamilton (GB) Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren Mercedes

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The announcement came today that Heikki Kovalainen has signed with McLaren.  Kovalainen joins McLaren after he was dropped from Renault to make room for the returning Fernando Alonso.  It had been speculated earlier after pressure from Spanish Sponsors that McLaren may choose current test driver Pedro de la Rosa, but in the end Kovalainen was the obvious choice and Pedro de la Rosa will remain as test driver.

The pairing at McLaren will be Lewis Hamilton and Kovalainen, two very young and talented drivers who had an impressive rookie season last year. 

CEO Martin Whitmarsh sounded genuinely pleased with the signing and had this to say: 

“We had a number of options open to us and as always we want to make sure that we have the most competitive driver line-up and I think that Lewis and Heikki will be a formidable combination.”

Kovalainen is very excited to be selected to join the team and has signed what is termed a ‘long term’ contract.

“I am so excited to join a team like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.”

“So far I have been blown away by the dedication and commitment to winning, which is clear through the entire organisation, and I am really excited about our joint future.

“As a Finn it’s an honour for me to follow in Mika and Kimi’s footsteps.

“I haven’t really spent a lot of time with Lewis so far but from what I know I think we will work well together and do our best for the team.”

With Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen as McLaren drivers and Pedro de la Rosa as test driver, this team will be very strong next year.  Two talented young drivers driven to winning with a great car and solid program around them will give all top running teams a huge challenge this coming season.

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