Silly Season Roundup: Formula One

While there is less to talk about in terms of contracts on the Formula One front, there are still some interesting things going on. Following my Indycar roundup on Monday I will now do a team by team breakdown for F1

Ferrari
Both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are under contract for next year, but some question marks may be raised for 2010. Massa has outperformed Raikkonen most of the year and Raikkonen makes a heck of a lot more money. With Fernando Alonso clearly on the horizon for the Scuderia, one of these two may have to give, and it may just be Kimi if he doesn't pull up his socks. Thus:
Kimi Raikkonen
Felipe Massa

McLaren Mercedes
Both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen are under contract for 2009 but Big Ron may look to someone different to be Hamilton's teammate for 2010 if Heikki does not start to be closer to Hamilton's speed. The Mercedes people are targeting a constructors championship and they will want someone who is more consistently fast than Kovalainen if current trends continue, Thus
Lewis Hamilton
Heikki Kovalainen

BMW Sauber
BMW has not confirmed either driver for next year but the word is that Robert Kubica is on the verge of extending his deal through next year. I see no reason why they would not keep him as he is obviously their driver of the future. Nick Heidfeld is a much more difficult case because for the most part he has been nowhere near his teammate. There are no rumours to suggest that he won't return, but with Fernando Alonso still unconfirmed there will always be that fruit of temptation for the Hinwil/Munich gang. I doubt we will see Alonso in a beemer next year, especially due to his previous record with young hotshot teammates, but Nick Heidfeld's job is far from secure. Thus
Robert Kubica
Nick Heidfeld

Toyota
Toyota have placed themselves solidly as leaders in the best of the rest category thanks to solid drives by jarno Trulli and Timo Glock. Both men have been re-signed for next year and appear to have formed Toyota's most consistent partnership yet. This is not saying a whole lot as previous Toyota drivers include Ralf, "best driver on the grid one race and worst the next", Schumacher. Glock had a slow start to the year but since Montreal has really started to match trulli. The next Michael Schumacher he is not, but he could be on for a long and succesful F1 career. Thus:
Jarno Trulli
Timo Glock

Red Bull racing
RBR have confirmed both Mark webber and Toro Rosso Hotshot Sebastien Vettel for next year, a partnership which looks to be much stronger than this years. Frankly David Coulthard has been pretty poor all year, reminiscint of Damon Hill's final season and the rumour is that He may be out after Monza to be replaced by Vettel for the rest of the year. Given DC's poor performaces recently I think that this is all to likely, a sad way to end a Formula One career for one of it's best drivers of the last 15 years. Thus:
Mark Webber
Sebastien Vettel

Renault
The renault question is either simple or complicated depending on one man, Fernando Alonso. It is no secret that he will be gone for 2010, but the question remains about where he will be next year. Conventional wisdom suggests he ride out another year at mediocre Renault before jumping to Ferrari, but with Alonso things are rarely that simple. There are rumours that he will go to Honda, but that seems unlikely as why would he want to jumo from one average team to another. If Fernando stays then Nelson Piquet will probably stay as well. The Brazilian had a slow start to the year but has picked things up and seems to be in good shape for a drive. Flavio Briatore however is known to quickly change his opinion of drivers and so he will never be truly safe until he has a contract in hand. If Alonso leaves then there will be a gaping hole in their lineup. The team will want some experience, but there are no experienced free agents whose Renault Bridge has not already been torched. If Nick Heidfeld gets canned at BMW they maybe they will hire him, but that seems unlikely and I don't know if they will want to hire either a rookie or a has been like Takuma Sato. Bottom Line is that Renault"s lineup really hinges on Alonso, if he leaves then all bets are off. Renault also ahve a healty crop of talented young test drivers, but a revolving door of rookies is not the way to build a championship contender, something that renault management are aware of Thus:
Fernando Alonso
Nelson Piquet
Takuma Sato
Robert Doornbos
Lucas Di grassi
Romain Grosjean
Nick Heidfeld

Williams
Williams have confirmed Nico Rosberg and the man who was once considered the next Schumi will be desperate to have a better season next year. Kaz nakajima will probably be back alongside him, but his penchant for hitting things recently will not endear him to Sir Frank and Patrick. With a talented crop of youngsters available in GP2 they may just be tempted to borrow a driver, or even promote test driver Nico Hulkenberg, a move which would not impress engine suppliers Toyota.
Nico Rosberg
Kaz Nakajima
Nico Hulkenberg

Honda
Honda are in a peculiar position at the moment. The pump assloads of money into the team and they do nothing. Their current driver lineup is not exactly inspiring and their on-track performances this year have been pisspoor to say the least. Nick fry and Ross Brawn have flip-flopped on the job security of Button and Barichello, but Ross has openly admitted to be courting Fernando Alonso. Although Alonso is a longhot for them their is still a possibility, but with Honda's crop of yougsters looking a little dry at th emoment they may be stuck with their current drivers. The only other possibility would be to replace one of them with Anthony Davidson but that seems unlikely Thus:
Jenson Button
Rubens Barichello
Anthony Davidson
Fernando Alonso

Scuderia Toro Rosso
One thing is for certain, STR will have at least one new driver for next year and quite possibly two. Seb Vettel is definetly off to Red Bull and the leading candidate for his job appears to be Bruno Senna, who is second in the standings. There is also the possibility that Sebastien Buemi, the Red Bull backed swiss driver, will take the seat. The other rumour is that veteran japanese driver takuma Sato will take the seat. Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost want an experienced drivet and Taku may just be that man. They may also keep Sebastien Bourdais in the second seat, but unless the Frenchman shows significant improvement in the last six races his chances are slim. I think that Takuma sato will probably get one seat, and the second will be between Senna, Buemi, and Bourdais Thus:
Takuma Sato
Sebaastien Bourdais
Sebastein Buemi
Bruno Senna

Force India
Vijay Mjyalla has said that he will keep his current driver pairing, but recent performances by Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil have left a lot to be desired. Sutil in particular has been more and more accident prone recently leading to apparant second thoughts among the Force India team. They may keep these two for one more year just for the continuity's sake, as the team has gone through so much turmoil in the last few years, Thus:
Giancarlo Fisichella
Adrian Sutil