2017 F1 driver market still far from settled.

While 2017 drivers at top teams, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull,  have been locked in early this year,  many seats further down the grid are still very much in play.

Both Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas are rumored to be out at Williams.  Felipe is said to have been told in Monaco his contract option would not be picked up and Bottas is likely paying for the disappointing season Williams had in 2016.

Replacing the two at the Martini sponsored team would be Jenson Button and Lance Stroll.   Stroll,  is an ex Ferrari Academy driver who this year signed on to be Williams' development driver. His seat is contingent on his European F3 series results being good enough to obtain points needed to qualify for a Super License.  But it's also contingent on the $60 Million his father Lawrence Stroll (Michael Kors-Tommy Hilfiger among other investments) is said to be prepared to spend on his son's career.   

At one point Stroll was rumored to have bought into Sir Frank's team though the team denied he bought in.  What is certain is that he's hired ex-Ferrari race engineer and Ferrari Driver Academy chief Luca Baldisserri to be Lance's personal mentor. 

Jenson Button will finish his career where he started his F at age twenty, sixteen years ago.  Jenson is super marketable and, by all accounts, great at sponsor events. 

Button's seat at Mclaren will got to Stoffel Vandoorne with Alonso riding out the third year of his contract "evaluating" if the new regulations are to his liking before deciding if to continue beyond 2017.

Renault's lineup will also change with the team not needing to rely on pay drivers after this season.   Bottas and Esteban Ocon, on loan from Mercedes, are top contenders for the French team but Perez is still hoping to jump ship from Force India  along with his considerable sponsorship backing.

Haas too is up in the air,  Grosjean said not to Renault this year with the hope he might get a call from Ferrari but that was dashed when Raikkonen's contract was renewed.  The chance of his moving to the Scuderia now in 2018 look slim and that seat at Renault looks quite inviting.   But after turning the team down this season, his future does not look yellow.

The second seat at Haas may got to Charles Leclerc,  a driver Ferrari wants to evaluate for future consideration.   Leclerc would need to win the GP3 championship to score the points needed for a Super License in which case Esteban Gutierrez might land at Sauber or at Force India.

Of course no Silly Season would be complete without juicy rumors.  The one floated during the NBC broadcast of Friday practice, that Mercedes would leave the sport in 2018,  seems unlikely for a team party to the Concorde Agreement expiring in 2020.  

The other, floated by Autosprint, is more plausible: Vettel "procrastinating" on any early discussions of a post 2017 renewal because he's evaluating McLaren Honda's progress versus the Scuderia's long term prospects.

That should warm a few seats at Maranello.

F1 silly season in full swing

There have been media reposts a deal has been reached which would bring Valterri Bottas to Maranello to replace Kimi Raikkonen.  The deal would see Ferrari paying Williams a rather astounding €12 Million / $13 Million to Williams for the remainder of the Finn's contract.

Alonso's silence explained

Where will Alonso go in 2015?

That has been the soap opera for the second half of the season.  People are down on Fernando for keeping mum but there is a very simple explanation:  Lewis Hamilton.

When things were not going his way this past summer, Hamilton started making noises about his contract renewal with Mercedes.  Mercedes, not wanting to lose their marquee driver came down hard on Nico after the Spa contact.   Nico did not recover until the penultimate race of the season in Brazil.  Score one for couch man Hamilton, tactic must have worked.

Now as the season finale looms, Hamilton is still keeping the contract renewal over Mercedes's head. If he wins on Sunday he will renew with the additional leverage of a two time world champion.  Should he lose, he will not stand around the Mercedes garage as Rosberg's sidekick and sign with Mclaren. Pressure's on Mercedes to avoid a DNF,  a DNF in the final race of 2012  marked the end of his Mclaren days.

That will free up a spot for Alonso at Mercedes and, as he himself said many times, it will be obvious why he waited.