Road to 2010

While the 2009 line-up is almost done except for Honda, STR and Force India not confirming their driver line-ups, but 2010 could be the most interesting season as apart from Hamilton, no other driver on track is actually sure on the team he will be starting for. Well theoretically Massa and Kimi also have seats but it all depends on what happens in 2009. Another person who has a deal till 2010 is Alonso but again it also depends on what Renault can provide him.

Well as far as Alonso is concerned he is in a very dicey situation. If Renault is not able to offer him a competitive package for the whole season, he well may not have too many options on the grid. McLaren is a sure No No, while Ferrari is only possible if they lose the driver’s championship again to Lewis in 2009. As far as their team is concerned for 2009, they have one of the best with Kimi the 2008 World Champion and though Massa may not have won the 2009 Championship but he is according to many people the real Champion of the season. BMW is a good team to go but again if BMW does not have a car which can challenge the McLaren and Ferrari the whole season, then it may not be a great option to go there. I am sure even Kubica would leave them if he does not get a car which can help him win the title. What else is there? Honda and Toyota are there while RBR by then will emerge as the strongest independent team out there while STR’s future after 2009 is still not too clear. Williams is living in its past glory and well it may face the same fate as Brabham, Tyrrell and Lotus.

Now for Ferrari an ideal line-up would be Vettel and Alonso. As Vettel is the next Schumacher while Alonso can possibly win another title or so and also groom Vettel. Kimi well I don’t see him lasting on F1 beyond 2010 and if he wins the title in 2009, he is sure to retire and if he has a similar season to 2008, I am sure Ferrari may just kick him out. Massa well it would be tough to drop him but again well he has proved himself and he has many other teams as options. McLaren more or less will revolve around Hamilton and the only surprise could be if Rosberg will join them and if it does it sure will be a disaster but more or less but Glock will be the guy who most likely will join the team with his German connections.

So these are my predictions for the driver line-up for 2010:

Ferrari – Vettel and Alonso/Massa/Kubica
McLaren – Hamilton and Rosberg/Glock/Kovalainen/Massa
BMW – Kubica/Alonso/Massa/Heidfeld
Renault – Massa/ Heidfeld/ Piquet/ Di Grassi/ Grosjean/Bourdais
Williams – Nakajima/ Hülkenberg/Sutil
Red Bull – Webber/ Buemi/Massa
STR – Buemi/Sato/Bourdais/ Chandhok/Ammermüller/Hartley
Toyota – Trulli/Glock/Heidfeld/Kobayashi/ Nakajima/Massa
Honda – Button/Senna/Di Grassi/Davidson/Massa
Force India – Who ever McLaren decides!

As far as I can see well Massa even if he gets fired by Ferrari sure has lots of options and he does not have to worry much but Alonso well, he just needs to pray that Ferrari does badly as right now, he needs them more than they need him and with the likes of Vettel and Kubica, well Alonso may just not win anymore World Championships and could retire early from the sport like what Mika did.