With the FIA Formula One World Championship nearing the end of the season, there are plenty of  headlines about the sport filling news websites around the world. There are discussions about the futures of both Caterham and Marussia, the future of independent teams in the sport, and complaints about how this season’s champion may be decided by the new double points rule in Abu Dhabi. This article will compile some of the newest information that has been released about next season’s team lineups.

One of the more recent examples of the driver drama for next season was seen in a twitter post by Adrian Sutil’s girlfriend. Despite having a contract with Sutil, Sauber has filled its seats with two other drivers. Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson and Williams Martini Racing’s official test driver Felipe Nasr will be driving for the Swiss team in 2015.

https://twitter.com/jennifer_becks/status/530324703190482944

This undercut by Sauber leaves Adrian Sutil without a seat next season, which is clearly not the problem for Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonso and his current team, Scuderia Ferrari, have been in a stalemate over who will terminate their contract (for financial reasons). Since the announcement of his plans of departure from Ferrari, Alonso has not been extremely vocal about his destination for next year. Despite his constant denials, if Fernando Alonso stays in F1 next year, he will most likely be driving for McLaren. Eric Boullier, the racing director of the Woking team, confirmed that McLaren and Alonso have been negotiating a contract for 2015. This does not mean that the Spanish driver will definitely drive for McLaren, but as the 2014 comes to an end, it seems to be the only feasible option.

If Fernando Alonso stays in F1 next year, he will most likely be driving for McLaren.

If Fernando does sign a contract with McLaren, that only leaves one open seat on their team; this seat will most definitely be filled by one of their current drivers. Whether or not it is the right decision, Kevin Magnussen would probably be picked over the world champion Jenson Button. Button’s impatience with McLaren has been becoming more and more obvious in his interviews. If this wasn’t dramatic enough, when asked if he would accept a seat offer from the team,  he responded with nothing except “I don’t know.” While it may seem theatrical, Jenson Button’s response could arguably be seen as reasonable.

Many critics of McLaren’s handling of their driver lineup have argued that Button has not received the respect that he deserves from McLaren. If McLaren does not offer him a seat—or if he declines—then he will most likely not be driving in Formula 1 at all. Speculation has been floating around about Button driving in the WEC if a McLaren deal falls through, but that claim is nowhere near confirmed. It would be a shame to see such a driver leave the sport, but Jenson Button is sure to see success elsewhere in his future.

Button’s impatience with McLaren has been becoming more and more obvious…

Another driver who is expected to see success elsewhere in his future is four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, although he is not leaving Formula One any time soon. Vettel has announced his departure from Infiniti Red Bull Racing for the 2015 season, and will most likely be filling Fernando Alonso’s warm seat if he leaves Scuderia Ferrari. It has long been a dream of Vettel’s to drive for Ferrari, and it appears as though he will get his chance starting next season. He will be joining his good friend Kimi Räikkönen, which will hopefully help both of the world champions to improve from this season.

With the hesitation of decisions from both drivers and teams, the situation of next year’s driver lineups has been very tense. This issue should resolve itself within the upcoming weeks, when the shuffling of world champions ceases.

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Below is a list of all of the confirmed  drivers for next year:

Mercedes AMG Petronas

• Lewis Hamilton
• Nico Rosberg

Infiniti Red Bull Racing

• Daniel Ricciardo
• Daniil Kvyat

Williams Martini Racing

• Valtteri Bottas
• Felipe Massa

Sahara Force India

• Sergio Pérez
• Nico Hülkenburg

Sauber

• Felipe Nasr
• Marcus Ericsson

 

 

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Scuderia Ferrari

• Kimi Räikkönen
•  –

Scuderia Toro Rosso

• Max Verstappen
•  –

Lotus

• Pastor Maldonado
•  –

 

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McLaren

•  –
•  –

Manor Grand Prix (Marussia)

•  –
•  –

Caterham

•  –
•  –

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