Mercedes hopes to unveil its 2010 driver line-up in a week, Norbert Haug revealed today, as the German marque confirmed its takeover of the championship-winning Brawn GP team. Although the team refused to comment on its driver line-up amid speculation that Nico Rosberg has already been signed, they are hopeful of getting everything finalised by next week.

“I would rather hope [to name our drivers] next week, but don't kill me if it [takes] a couple of weeks longer,” Norbert Haug, vice president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport told British website Autosport.com.

However, the team strongly denied that they were seeking to have two German drivers in their ranks. Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock have both being linked to the team's second seat, but Haug insists Mercedes want the best drivers available.

“I read some speculation and I understand this because we could not give this information earlier,” continued Haug. “But this will be an international team for Mercedes-Benz is a global player.

“If you look back in our history we have very often been criticised for not having a German driver, so we were always open and we took the driver decision always together with McLaren.

“This will be the same in the future. We want to have the best ones and we definitely do not want to have the pure German team - it's an international Silver Arrows team and we want to have the best drivers in the car.”

When pushed to answer questions about negotiations with world champion Jenson Button, Haug refused to comment. “We are in negotiations but all the accurate information is around and we are talking,” he said. “That's why we are not able to announcement driver line-up. We cannot comment on the drivers.”

Button has been at loggerheads with Brawn GP over a salary increase ever since securing the drivers' championship in October. Having taken a hefty wage cut to save the team a year ago, the Briton is seeking to have his pay returned to 2008 levels a demand not being met by the Brawn management. However, even with Mercedes as majority stakeholders, the situation is unlikely to change.