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Rubens Barrichello is quoted at a general 40-1 after news leaked that the Brazilian, who finished third in this year’s World Drivers’ Championship behind team-mate Jenson Button and Sebastien Vettel, is joining Williams following his release by Brawn GP. The veteran driver was the only one to make a race of it with Button over the closing weeks of the season, but though Ross Brawn has been gushing in his praise of Barrichello, his team, apparently, has opted instead for Nico Rosberg (formerly of Williams) to partner Jenson Button, should the Briton decide his immediate future lies at Brawn. Rosberg is rated a general 16-1 to win the 2010 World Drivers’ Championship, while Button is a general 12-1 to retain his crown. Nico Hulkenburg, this year’s GP2 champion, will partner Barrichello at Williams and gets a 66-1 quote from William Hill. The 22-year-old German has a very similar profile to previous world champions Button and Lewis Hamilton in that he comes from a karting background and has already won titles in Formula Three and sports cars – he is very much one for the future. Hamilton, incidentally, heads the market (11-4 with skybet and Stan James) following his storming finish to the season with McLaren already making bullish noises about next year’s car. Certainly, the Woking-based team are not going to get caught with their metaphorical pants down next year, though Ross Brawn is such an innovator that one could easily imagine him having a few tricks up his sleeve before pre-season testing. Vettel is a general 6-1 chance to go one better than this season in 2010, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (a best 7-2) and Kimi Raikkonen (13-2 with Blue Square and 888sport) make up the leading fancies for next year’s title.