Inside Line: On a very Silly Season note...

Sebastian Vettel is staying with the Reds and the perennial question of Kimi Raikkonen's future is again doing the rounds. The veteran will be 39 next season, he is still highly regarded, very popular and probably has another Formula 1 season in him.

Vettel is keen on the Finn staying and the smart money is that they will hold station on the driver front as the post-Sergio Marchionne leadership entrenches itself under the chairmanship of Agnelli heir John Elkann and new CEO Louis Camilleri.

Marchionne's sudden departure is a destabilising blow to the team, thus maintaining stability with their experienced drivers would be understandable.

Rookie Charles Leclerc is having a wonder season with Sauber and he will drive a Ferrari in the future, some believe, including Vettel, that next year is a tad too soon and another year at Sauber will be good for the youngster. Again all depends on what the new management have in mind for the future of the sport's most famous team...

Max Verstappen is with the team until the end of 2020 and word is that Daniel Ricciardo's new deal, extending for another two years, is set to be announced any day soon. This will end speculation of a Ferrari move for the Australian at this point of his career.

A website reported that Esteban Ocon will move to Renault next year and everyone picked up on the story, but this has not been substantiated by any official source close to the driver, his minders Mercedes or Renault.

Indeed, the latter are keen to get a French driver in the cockpit and Ocon ticks all the boxes.

However, it is unlikely Mercedes are going to let go of the crown jewel in their junior driver programme. Developments at Force India (detailed below) are also likely to be a big factor in what the Merc-backed youngster does next year.

Carlos Sainz has been linked to a McLaren seat alongside Fernando Alonso - more below. Should the Red Bull-contracted driver depart his current team, and Ocon stays at Force India, a much-coveted seat will open up with Renault.

The French manufacturer sell a lot of cars in Mexico through their affiliate Nissan who are sales leaders in the country with 25% of the market. Renault could do with some help to boost their 2% market share in the central Ameican nation, step-up Sergio Perez...

Lawrence Stroll has reportedly purchased the beleaguered but competitive outfit, his intention is to turn it into a Mercedes B-team, in the Ferrari and Haas style.

This would mean that Lance Stroll will have a drive with the Pinks and in all likelihood, Ocon will remain with the team which will benefit from closer ties with the Mercedes works outfit.

Romain Grosjean is at the crossroads of his career in Formula 1, crash-prone, expensive and struggling for consistency. Should he keep his drive beyond this sean it will be thanks to the goodness of Gene Haas' heart.

Before his sad demise, Marchionne was keen to strike a Maserati deal with Haas, similar to the Alfa-Romeo and Sauber partnership he engineered, which would then allow them to place Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi with the team.

Again all depends on Mr Elkann and Mr Camilleri and their plans for Maranello...

Troubled times at Woking means that team chief Zak Brown can shoot from the hip and claim they are talking to just about everyone on the grid and beyond.

The list is massive starting with their junior lads Nyck de Vries and Lando Norris, both promised rides next year in the big league. Nice (albeit very old) marketing trick to create a fuss over drivers while his team burns.

From Zak, there's been a stream of: "Stoffel is unhappy with his car, Fernando is a racer, Lewis can always come back, no negotiations with Kimi yet, Sainz is a great driver..."

Smoke and mirrors, tactics that frankly I am surprised that a guru like Zak is still using.

Reading between the lines it is increasingly clear that Alonso runs the show and is angling for Sainz to join the McLaren to create an all Spanish 'Armada' for 2019.

In all likelihood Zak will buy into the "all-Spanish driver line-up" and Carlos will get the car that Stoffel once had. The latter sadly has not seized his F1 opportunity.

In time Zak will learn, like Monisha, that three, four or five does not go into two.

Note to McLaren marketing: "Target the usual suspects in Spain: Santander, Repsol, Telefonica etc etc."

Pierre Gasly for sure to stay. Brendon Hartley not so sure...

The most improved team on the grid is likely to keep Leclerc if Ferrari do not promote him to the senior team. Marcus Ericsson has been massively exposed by his rookie teammate and if he keeps his seat it is only because of his contacts within the ownership of the team.

If a seat does become available look to Frederic Vasseur to pick a young talent to promote. Having said that, there is the Kimi returns to Sauber absurd rumour. Why would Kimi do that?

Talk about dire times for the once mighty outfit. So bad is their car, and prospects for the future, that billionaire Lawrence Stroll is writing off the $40-million plus, which he dropped at Grove, to buy Force India for probably three times that amount if his lucky.

His son's 'hobby' is burning a hole in his monster bank account.

Sergey Sirotkin is likely to stay with the team, unless the likes of Toro Rosso come calling, where else would he go?

He has the backing and for a rookie pedalling a sh!tbox he is actually giving a good account of himself. He deserves to keep his place.

As for the other seat... Who would want it? Who would pay to drive for them? Exactly! No one. Therefore Robert Kubica's Formula 1 dream story can live on...