(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Never before have we gone this late in the season without knowing very much about the look of the grid for next season. But the game seems to have changed greatly over the last few weeks. Going team-by-team, in order of Constructor Standings:
Brawn
Everything that Team Principal Ross Brawn is saying about next year indicates that he wants to bring back the current driver lineup of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. And why not? Both drivers have delivered this season, and they appear to have a friendship and good working relationship.
The only issue that Brawn needs to consider is the unique driver market in 2010. Only five drivers on the grid—Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, and Felipe Massa- have confirmed race seats next season.
As such, there has never been such an abundance of talent on the market at one time, especially young talent. Brawn may feel that, in order to secure a young talent for the future, he may need to dump Barrichello to make way for one.
But if Ross Brawn is anything, it's patient and forward-thinking. He knows how well his current team is gelling now, and with Barrichello still on form and having plenty of juice left in the tank for another go or so, there's not really much of a reason to dump him. There will surely be opportunities in the future to sign young talent, especially if the team builds on its success this season.
Predicted Drivers Button and Barrichello.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are confirmed for next season.
Ferrari
Ferrari have confirmed Massa will be ready for the start of next season and will be with the team.
The Fernando Alonso-to-Ferrari rumors just will not die, even though they should. Ferrari have maintained throughout that both Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are contracted for next season, and they have done so without waffling.
Furthermore, Raikkonen has come alive since Hungary, with three-straight podiums and a win. He's done something for the first time in his career that many people didn't think he was capable of doing: taking leadership of a team during a difficult time.
Ferrari would be stupid to dump Raikkonen at this point, given that the Iceman has shown he still has it and that he and Massa have a good working relationship. They would be taking an especially high risk with Alonso, who, regardless of what one thinks about his driving ability, has shown he's willing to blow up a team if things don't go his way.
Furthermore complicating the "Alonso-to-Ferrari" plot is a report that the team made an aggressive approach to Vettel before he signed an extension with Red Bull, apparently offering him a seat beginning in 2011. This just happens to be the year that both Raikkonen's and Massa's contracts expire, as well as the year by which Alonso is supposedly guaranteed to be in a red car.
If this is true, then it calls into question what interest they really had in Alonso, who surely wouldn't approve of having to go up against another young super-talent.
Predicted Drivers Raikkonen and Massa
McLaren
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