On the face of it, Formula 1 recently presented a healthy 19 race dates for the 2010 calendar but many of those venues remain are under a cloud.

Canada and Germany are subject to the signing of contracts, Britain’s two alternative circuits are not guaranteed races, Spa’s racing license has been revoked, and South Korea’s new venue is only half built.

Meanwhile, the latest uncertainty surrounds the May 30 allocation for the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. Istanbul is therefore due to host a race within days of the Monaco Grand Prix, and the logistical impracticality of that prospect has been discussed this weekend by the Formula One Teams’ Association.

At a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council today though, it was confirmed that the Monaco Grand Prix has been brought forward by a week in order to aid the logistical demands of the teams ahead of the Turkish round of the championship.

In addition, the FIA has approved in principle a proposal to swap the dates of the Abu Dhabi and Brazilian races, pending agreement with the promoters of both events.

Officially, the Turkish Grand Prix, criticized for attracting so small a crowd earlier this year, is due to move to June 6 if the negotiations with Montreal fall through, which would give teams a more feasible time-frame to travel to the venue.  This scenario seems unlikely, as reports have come out that the Canadian Grand Prix will take place in 2010, and the announcement will be made before the final round of the 2009 season.

The Most recent version of the 2010 schedule looks like this:

The Formula One Teams’ Association has reportedly expressed doubts about the addition of South Korea to the 2010 calendar, and would prefer instead to be returning to the United States.  “South Korea is a wonderful country and we have no problems with it, but we hear that the track is four or five hours from the nearest major city,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told Auto Bild.

“There’s no infrastructure, no hotels, no good transport. It makes it difficult for the fans and the media,” said the Briton.  He indicated that F1’s priority should be immediately reinstating a North American round of the world championship.

“There shouldn’t be any doubts about Montreal,” said Whitmarsh regarding Canada. “North America is a big market. In the past we’ve messed around with North America so much that we should go there for free if necessary.”

At a meeting of the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) at Suzuka, a novel cost-cutting initiative for the forthcoming winter period was discussed.  FOTA deputy chairman John Howett told reporters after the meeting that several teams support the concept of organizing a single event to officially launch all the cars ahead of the 2010 season. Traditionally, teams reveal their new cars to the world’s media at individual events.  But with the new era of limited testing, most teams are targeting the same period in January to have their new cars completed and ready to launch.

Also briefly discussed at the meeting was the issue of unanimously agreeing to allow a guaranteed 14th team entry for BMW Sauber’s new owner Qadbak. Sir Frank Williams confirmed his opposition to extending the grid from the traditional 13 teams.  “It’s illogical to change the rules suddenly for one extra person,” he said, adding that Sauber may still be able to race next year if any of the new teams do not make it to Bahrain next March. “They may have a chance of getting in based on the gossip that’s going around,” Williams said.  He said his reluctance is also based on the fact that almost nothing is known publicly about Qadbak, a consortium of anonymous wealthy families.

Following last week’s developments it now looks like there could be as many as 14 teams racing in Formula 1 in 2010.  It would be fantastic to see a 28-car Formula 1 grid, but is it really likely? I’m not sure.

Back in the dark days of the budget cap row, the FIA opened a tender to allow three new teams in. As we are all aware, they named USF1, Campos Meta 1 and Manor Motorsport as the entries.  Then, when BMW announced it was pulling out of the sport and declined to sign the new Concorde Agreement, the tender process was re-opened for another team. Just recently the Malaysian government-backed Lotus project was named as the winner.  However the FIA also declared itself impressed with the quality of a re-application put forward by the buyers of the BMW team, backed by a Swiss investment foundation called “Qadbak”.  It has said the team will have first refusal on any further vacancies that should arise, and will try to have the entry list expanded to 14 teams for 2010 to accommodate them.

This last point is interesting because the FIA clearly believes it is possible under the new Concorde Agreement to increase the entry from 26 to 28, but not to allow teams to run a third car, which Mosley dismissed as “fantasy” earlier this month.  Getting the other teams to agree to a 14th entrant might not be easy as it means less room at the tracks and more competition for points, prize money and sponsorship. However, a 14th team might not be necessary if other entries are pulled.

Who could drop out?

USF1blog.com recently published the provisional 2010 Formula 1 calendar, but now the official 2010 F1 calendar has been released and it shows a 19-round championship. Such a number of destinations has not been seen in F1 since the 2005 campaign.

Bahrain will take over as the season-opening event next year, with Australia presented as the second round. Taking into account daylight savings time, the change allows the Melbourne race to start at 5pm, following the trend of ‘twilight’ races imposed by Bernie Ecclestone in order to favor television coverage for European audiences.

The Malaysian Grand Prix will retain its twilight status, however the race is scheduled an hour earlier with hopes of avoiding a mid-race wash-out as was the case this year due to the daily fierce rainstorms of April. Abu Dhabi follows the late-day race format as well, while Singapore remains a late-evening event under the floodlights.

Canada appears on the 2010 calendar although the contract remains to be signed – if negotiations should fall through again, Turkey – which appears on the calendar in any case – will be delayed two weeks in order to take over Canada’s reserved date.

New to the Formula One championship will be the Korean Grand Prix, with a debut set for October. Brazil will recuperate its traditional role as the season-ending race, this time in mid-November.

2010 Formula 1 calendar

(1) March 14 – Bahrain (Sakhir)
(2) March 28 – Australia (Melbourne)
(3) April 4 – Malaysia (Sepang)
(4) April 18 – China (Shanghai)
(5) May 9 – Spain (Barcelona)
(6) May 23 – Monaco (Monte Carlo)
(7) May 30 – Turkey (Istanbul)
(8) June 13 – Canada* (Montreal)
(9) June 27 – Europe (Valencia)
(10) July 11 – Great Britain (Donington)
(11) July 25 – Germany (Hockenheim)
(12) August 1 – Hungary (Budapest)
>>> 4 Week FOTA Summer Break<<<
(13) August 29 – Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
(14) September 12 – Italy (Monza)
(15) September 26 – Singapore (Singapore)
(16) October 3 – Japan (Suzuka)
(17) October 17 – Korea (Yeongam County)
(18) October 31 – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)
(19) November 14 – Brazil (Interlagos)

USF1blog.com recently took an in-depth look at the 2010 drivers market, and we are now hearing that Kimi Raikkonen has signed a preliminary “outline agreement” to kick off a second tenure with McLaren beginning next season.  The Mirror cited “paddock sources” in claiming that Raikkonen is prepared to vacate his contracted Ferrari seat in 2010, but only if the Italian outfit pays his salary. It is estimated that Raikkonen’s 2010 Ferrari contract is valued at nearly $49m.

The 29-year-old Finn, who raced with the woking based outfit between 2002 and 2006, must first reach an agreement with Ferrari, with whom he is under contract for one more season.

The report also said the news ties in with Nico Rosberg’s link with Brawn and the Brackley team’s burgeoning relationship with Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes was said to be pushing for Rosberg to replace Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren, but may now have resolved to push the German driver to Brawn and increase its involvement with Ross Brawn’s team.

This of means, of course, that the fate of Barrichello and Kovalainen are still up in the air for next season.

The path is now clear for the Canadian Grand Prix to return to the Formula One calendar, the promoters of the Montreal event announced in a media statement on last Monday.

Grand Prix F1 du Canada Inc president Normand Legault said a “commercial dispute” with Bernie Ecclestone has been settled, and an “announcement is forthcoming” about the return of the race next year.

“I’ve always been confident of being able to resolve the dispute,” said Legault.

“I never doubted the Canadian race would regain its rightful place on the FIA schedule, and my discussions with F1 management led me to believe the event would return soon.

“The race is important not only for Formula 1, but also for the teams, manufacturers and sponsors.

“I am also happy for the Canadian Grand Prix’s many fans because they are true F1 enthusiasts who appreciate the real value of the spectacle and the competition.”

The Canadian GP, which had been part of the F1 World Championship since 1967, was dropped for this season as a result of a financial disagreement.  The race has been provisionally agreed for 6 June 2010.

The calendar is not expected to be confirmed until October and Ecclestone has yet to comment on Canada’s return.

Legault also announced on Monday that he is not planning to stay on as the race’s local promoter due to the “economic model currently prevailing in Formula One.”

Two years ago, Lewis Hamilton won his maiden F1 victory at the Canadian GP in only his sixth race, while last year Robert Kubica also clinched his first F1 win in Montreal.

Formula 1’s testing agreement will be slightly modified next year so that new or returning drivers can get some experience in their cars prior to an actual racing weekend.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, if a team wants or needs to alter its race line-up during the 2010 season, a one-day test for the replacement will be excluded from the total ban on proper in-season circuit testing.

Drivers eligible for the measure this year would have been Michael Schumacher, Luca Badoer, Tonio Liuzzi and rookies Jaime Alguersuari and Romain Grosjean.

To prevent abuse of the measure, in situations like that of Schumacher, who ultimately did not return to race, his test day would have been deleted from Ferrari’s allocation of testing for the subsequent season.

The original reason for the ban on in-season testing was an attempt to cut the costs spent by teams developing their car all season.  Obviously a one day test for an incoming driver is more of a primer than for data collection, and it will help drivers like Badoer, Alguersuari and Grosjean avoid embarrassment.

2010 Driver Line Up Predictions

With only 5 races left in the 2009 season, what better time is there to take an in-depth look at the Formula 1 “Silly Season”.

Brawn : Jenson Button / ???

Jenson’s a lock to stay at Brawn, considering that there will be no other teams that can provide him a more competitive race seat for 2010.  Rubens contact is set to expire at the end of ‘09.  He could resign a 1 year deal, or Ross Brawn and Nick Fry could decide that he is past his prime and no longer need his services.

Campos : de la Rosa / ???

Adrian Campos has expressed interest in having a fellow Spaniard occupy one of his race seats next year.  Although no deal has been signed, de la Rosa will most likely end up at Campos, and bring his years of experience to help develop the team, and the chassis. Vitaly Petrov’s name has been tossed around as a possibility for the second seat. The GP2 star has certainly made a mark in GP2, reaching the top step of the podium multiple times.

Ferrari : Massa / Alonso

The real reason why Alonso has not been announced yet, is because Massa took a center spring to the left temple.  LDM and the brain trust in Maranello are squirming right now to determine whether or not Massa will still have ‘it’ in ‘10.  It’s no secret that the Scuderia prefers their Brazilian over the Finn, but Raikkonen is still a World Drivers Champion, and his stock has been on the rise for the last 4 Grands Prix.  Alonso will drive for Ferrari next year.  Strangely enough, we don’t know who his team mate will be.

Franck Montagny has been in touch with Team USF1 about a seat for next season while continuing to keeping his options open in ALMS and IndyCar.

The French sports daily L’Equipe on Wednesday said the 31-year-old, a former Renault and Toyota test driver who also raced for part of the 2006 season with the now defunct Super Aguri team, had exchanged emails with the USF1’s sporting director Peter Windsor.

“They are having these kind of talks with all third drivers of the existing teams,” Frenchman Montagny said. “Nothing has been signed.”

Montagny is to compete at Petit Le Mans later this month with Peugeot and recently raced for Andretti Green in IndyCar. He has also been linked to Gil de Ferran’s proposed new IndyCar team for next season.

Montagny now has added his name to a growing list of potential “senior driver” positions at USF1 for 2010.  There is no doubt that the silly season is in full motion, so who would you like to see in the cockpit next year?