Honda stunned the F1 fraternity on Friday by announcing their immediate withdrawal from Formula One racing, after three fraught years as a standalone constructor. What happens next to the team's assets may well end up being a microcosm of a  battleground for F1's future.

The 2009 grid is nearly complete, and the upcoming test in Barcelona may well help shuffle the final few pieces into place. But will there be any seat left for old Boobens when the shuffling is over?

The title fight comes to a climax next weekend in Brazil, but let's face it, it hasn't been a classic. So if the idea of following the final chapter of Hamilton vs Massa strikes you as rather a dull waste of your viewing life, here's a few other battles down the field to keep an eye on at Interlagos.

The definitive 2009 F1 calendar has been formalised by the FIA, and it wouldn't be an action by the series organisers if it wasn't pilloried mercilessly for no reason other than "because it's there". So before all the good punches have been thrown, here's Patty's own two cents regarding the whole schedule.

The quietest silly season in living memory is slowly stuttering towards something of a conclusion as we rattle into mid-October. BMW and Williams have been quick to join the bandwagon of confirming their drivers as early as possible, and as a result, the rest of the grid is pretty much falling into place by default. Still, despite all that, this feature is almost certainly still relevant. At least to Bruno Senna, anyway.

The last month has seen the jigsaw that is the 2009 F1 grid begin to resemble the picture on the box a bit more, as the team leaders at Williams, Ferrari and BMW all received fancy contract extensions, and Force India decided they could save money on promotional material by just photocopying all their 2008 stuff. The impossible piece of the puzzle, the bit that looks like sky but could be a bit of the sea, or maybe that blue boat there, is Fernando Alonso, who still refuses to find a place to fit in to.