After the announcement of Nico Rosberg as one half of their 2010 driver line up earlier this week, the Mercedes Grand Prix team have revealed that could be up to another month before they announce the identity of their second driver.

With no testing of their new machinery until February of next year, the urgency to get both drivers on board is not as intense as it has been in previous years, However, that said, they will still need to get things in motion, such as seat fittings etc in order to be ready in time so Christmas time is the logistical target....

"It obviously would have been ideal to announce them together but that's impossible," Mercedes GP chief executive Nick Fry said.  "We don't have huge time pressure at the moment, but once one goes beyond Christmas and into the new year it becomes slightly more difficult with seat fits in time for the engineers to talk to the driver. I would hope on the other driver to do it before Christmas purely for logistical reasons."