Nico Rosberg is going to switch to Brawn to drive a silver-coloured car in 2010, according to the authoritative Swiss publication Blick.
In an article penned by the well-connected journalist veteran Roger Benoit, it is claimed that Mercedes will allow its contract with McLaren to lapse at the end of 2011, and by then the German manufacturer will own 75 per cent of Brawn GP.
Blick said the Brawn buyout is in conjunction with Arab partners, and will see the Brackley-built cars painted silver and with prominent Mercedes branding as of 2010.
Benoit also wrote that Rosberg is in fact not heading to McLaren, the British team that is currently 40 per cent owned by Mercedes, but to Brawn, despite chief executive Nick Fry saying recently he was happy to keep Rubens Barrichello alongside Jenson Button.
Rosberg said coyly last week that although still with multiple options for 2010, he had now at least honed in on one in particular.
"Nico is an option," Mercedes' motor sport president Norbert Haug said on Tuesday. "He is a candidate."