Time to Shake Things Up

Thursday, October 1, 2009 -- Fernando Alonso is all set to join a struggling Scuderia Ferrari outfit at the end of the season, replacing Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari race car, next to Felipe Massa. The announcement came on Wednesday and the original agreement between the two parties, Alonso and Ferrari, for a 2011 move was moved up by a year.

Chances are that the recent cheating-row may have played its part in moving things along faster than what was estimated.

Kimi Raikkonen will be leaving the Scuderia, having won a title, and this time his destination will be old team McLaren Mercedes. Raikkonen will team up with Lewis Hamilton and provide some capable competition to the defending World Champion in 2010. The announcement, although not yet official, is likely to come before this weekend's Suzuka Grand Prix in Japan.

Amongst other team news, Nico Rosberg is likely to take Rubens Barrichello's place in the Brawn outfit. However, the team might be in a dilema considering Barrichello's tremendous run of form in the recent times, pushing Jenson Button to the edge in the title race.

Williams will be on the lookout for two drivers as well. Toyota will no longer supply engines to the team and that means "exit" for Kazuki Nakajima who was forced upon the team due to Toyota's contractual requirements. Jenson Button was the second driver to be linked with the team however, after this season, it is unlikely that he will be heading anywhere.

Renault are looking at a variety of options with Robert Kubica and Rubens Barrichello being the most likely duo to take up their seats. However, Nico Hulkenberg is also considered a strong contender for the starting slot, although it is quite likely that Hulkenberg may end up in the third-driver position.

Renault will also be looking at taking Heikki Kovalainen back after the Finn failed to challenge the title or Hamilton even, at McLaren. Jarno Trulli is also considered a candidate considering that the Italian might be leaving Toyota at the end of the season. Roman Grosjean looks set to head out of Formula One with no one looking at him as an option. In the best case scenario for Grosjean, he may end up as a testing driver for a team but it all seems heading into a downward spiral at the moment.

Timo Glock will also be heading to greener pastures considering Toyota are still doubtful about their involvment in the sport.

With 14 teams and 28 cars lining up for the 2010 season, the starting grid will look far too long however, so far, only Ferrari and McLaren have gone far enough to finalise their two drivers for the coming season. But before we completely lose track of time and start looking forward to the next season, there is still a championship title to be decided and while the constructors' title has gone to debutants Brawn, it is extremely likely that their main man Jenson, might be in line for the Drivers' championship win this season.