Silly Season Report #7

Fisichella to Qadbak? Soucek to Manor? Kimi to his sofa? The 2010 silly season rumbles on as the list of predicted teams set to be on the grid itself begins to become almost as shambolically confused as unpredictable as the driver market.

Such a big hat. The chaotic current state of the 2010 grid, with teams swapping hands, struggling to sort cars and giving up all over the place means that the current juicy silly season gossip revolves around Kimi Raikkonen and his Ferrari payoff.

Such was the ludicrous size of Raikkonen's Ferrari paycheque and subsequent payoff, that the Finn with the big hat stands to make more money by simply having a year off racing in 2010 than signing the contract that has been proffered to him by McLaren. Apparently the Woking team has offered him a "miserable" £5 million, plus his £10 million payoff from Ferrari, whereas if he puts his feet up and spends next season sitting around watching daytime TV in his pants, he would get an increased £17 million compensation from the Italian team.

So while Kimi faces a straighforward question as to what he likes more: racing cars or two million quid, McLaren need a Plan B should the moolah win the tug of loyalties raging behind Raikkonen's blank features. That Plan B is apparently none other than Nick Heidfeld, who may be lured to the team that he started his F1 career with as a test driver back in 1998, and will be tempted by the chance to drive slightly too quietly to ever really be noticed for the German team.

All of which would give Mercedes their German driver that they have been after for so long sort of ends up at the team anyway, despite the mess they made of trying to get Nico Rosberg into the team. Rosberg is still expected to sign up for a go in the new Brawn GP car, alongside Jenson Button, with the hysterical headlines about his contract moaning now having died down.

Rosberg had certainly better hope that Brawn still want him, given that Williams became only the third team to wrap up their 2010 lineup shortly after the Abu Dhabi GP. As expected by just about everyone, Sir Frank has gone for a combination of experienced hopelessness and young potential in signing Rubens Barrichello for his 374th F1 season alongside "Nico of the month" Hulkenburg.

Elsewhere, the uncertainty over the Renault team isn't helping them to sort a driver alongside Robert Kubica. Before the whole mess of the last week, Timo Glock was being linked to the team prior to the current unpleasantness that has brought into question whether the team itself will even be here in 2010. Nothing looks set to be decided on the second driver front until the new year now, when the team sorts it's own future plans out. That might leave them a bit short of options when it comes to useful drivers, which can only be good news for Romain Grosjean.

Despite the jumbled driver market, both Toro Rosso and Force India still seem set to keep the lineups they ended 2009 with, assuming that Adrian Sutil isn't lured away from the FIndia team by Renault once they get themselves sorted. The Qadbak Sauber team are all set to replace Toyota on the 2010 grid, once the FIA have sorted a few legal issues out, and will probably be looking to keep Heidfeld with the team. If that fails, they could potentially get handed Giancarlo Fisichella from Ferrari (who will be giving the team engines next year). As for the other seat, Kubica could comically fall back into the former BMW stable if Renault give up, while the team may also look to mop up Heikki Kovalainen, who will be leaving McLaren.

As for the other new teams, only Campos has a driver secure for 2010, having signed Bruno Surname for one of it's seats, though that team remains one in a state of uncertainty for next year. They continue to pursue Pedro de la Rosa for their second seat, as well as pursuing some sponsors. Malaysilotus look set to sign Jarno Trulli as their first driver, while despite Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy's confidence of finding a seat with the team, Mike Gascoyne has insisted that they want experience for next year, so Kovalainen could end up here.

USF1, meanwhile, remain a mystery, both in drivers and in whether or not they're actually planning to start building a car at some point. If they're going to get any American talent, Jonathan Summerton remains the best bet, while Alex Wurz, Franck Montagny and de la Rosa have all been mentioned as possibilities with the token "experienced driver" for the team. Along with Jacques Villene...hahahahahahaha.

Manor GP are also keeping quiet, and the Virgin-backed team look like aiming for at least one driver able to pay their way for 2010. Lucas di Grassi seems almost certain to claim one seat, while any of the likes of F2 champion Andy Soucek, A1GP champion Adam Carroll, commentator extraordinaire Anthony Davidson and excellently-named new World Series by Renault champion Bertrand Baguette have come forwards as possibilities.

Overall, then, 19 of the 26 seats for 2010 remain open, and with teams still working on even being on the grid next year, it could be a long while yet before the grid starts to take shape.

Confirmed drivers so far:
Brawn GP - TBA / TBA
Red Bull - Webber / Vettel
McLaren - Hamilton / TBA
Ferrari - Alonso / Massa
Williams - Barrichello / Hulkenburg
Renault - Kubica / TBA
Force India - TBA / TBA
Toro Rosso - TBA / TBA
Qadbak Sauber - TBA / TBA
Campos - Senna / TBA
Manor - TBA / TBA
USF1 - TBA / TBA
Lotus - TBA / TBA