Inside Line: Was that the shortest F1 summer break ever?

From now until everyone officially gathers at Spa Francorchamps at the end of the month, we are back to monitoring F1 news just in case a story breaks while sipping Mohitos on a sun-drenched beach.

And expect big Silly Season stories will break between now and the resumption of play.

Thus bye-bye holidays, not just for us media mongrels but the entire Formula 1 world. There may be no track or factory action, but believe me F1 team manager and driver phones are ringing white hot as I write.

Mercedes confirming Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas late last month was the first trigger and now Ricciardo's move to Renault has really fired up Silly Season speculation.

Thus, we have Mercedes and Renault sorted, Ricciardo will partner Nico Hulkenberg, and Sebastian Vettel entrenched at Ferrari - which makes it a mere five drivers who have confirmed seats on the grid for next year which means 15 seats in Formula 1 are now up for grabs!

Vettel is staying and all my sources indicate that Kimi Raikkonen is remaining with the Reds for another year. The deal with the Finn was supposedly done in the lead-up to Hungary, hence the Kimster family entourage and Iceboy's freedom of the paddock in Budapest.

Kimi is not finished with F1 and F1 is not finished with Kimi. The McLaren story and a return to Sauber are pure b@llshit. For Kimi it is Ferrari or nada and for sure another year at Maranello is on the cards for our much-loved, albeit dour, veteran.

Rookie Charles Leclerc is in with a shot should Ferrari's new management go against tradition and hire a young upstart, but it is more likely they will keep the Monegasque youngster at Sauber for another season at least.

Guaranteed every driver on the grid will be angling for a seat alongside Max Verstappen. Make no mistake, Ricciardo's decision to defect to Renault was largely based on knowing that the young Dutchman is the chosen number one driver for the fizzy drinks brigade. This will not change until at least 2020 when his contract runs out.

The ludicrous suggestion that Fernando Alonso might under consideration is way off the mark and more like dreams of the Spanish media.

After all, the Spaniard trash talked Honda - Red Bull's new engine partner - to death and once again the Spaniard shot himself in the foot - a tendency he has had throughout his career.

Honda would be insulted if Red Bull opted for the double F1 World Champion. They won't even countenance his Indycar ambitions and Marko will not have it either, so go figure.

The Red Bull young driver pool has gone dry, but they do have Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley on their books. Word is that team consultant Helmut Marko and team chief Christian Horner are not keen to pit Sainz and Verstappen for a bunch of reasons.

The conventional wisdom is that Gasly will get the nod, but there is still an outside chance Hartley could turn things around in the nine remaining races and put up his hand to be considered as teammate to Max.

Red Bull will be in no rush to choose a driver as Horner stated: "We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season."

Numerous being the operative word...

Does anyone really know what is happening at Woking next year? I will hazard a guess and say not even Zak Brown knows who will be in is cars at this stage as they wait on Fernando to make his call. A move to Indycar for the Spaniard seems to have lost steam and until he decides on his plans nothing will fall into place at Woking.

Spanish media are playing up an all Spanish driver line-up which would include Carlos and Fernando in the team for next year. This would marginalise Stoffel Vandoorne, while releasing highly rated Lando Norris to seek a drive elsewhere.

According to Marko, McLaren have until the end of September to exercise their option with the 18-year-old, if they don't guarantee him a F1 ride next year the kid is free to go - check out Toro Rosso below...

Meanwhile, in what is a blatant attempt to overshadow their dismal season, Brown is supposedly talking to everyone and anyone. Raikkonen to McLaren? Forget about it!

Earlier this year Marko apparently made a bid for Lando Norris' services to replace Brendon Hartley in the Red Bull junior team. The audacious bid was turned down by Mclaren.

If rookie Pierre Gasly does move up to partner Max, Norris is an obvious target for Toro Rosso and Marko would do well to secure the highly-rated teenager.

Marko surprised everyone when he promoted Max to the big team and demoted Daniil Kvyat to the junior outfit. So be ready for a surprise announcement.

Force India (or whatever it will become...)

Let's assume, for the sake of this piece, that from the dust of administration a Formula 1 team emerges intact and fully backed with a secure future.

Both Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were high on the Renault list, and one could assume if Daniel had turned down the offer, either the Frenchman or the Mexican would be in yellow and black next year.

With the Renault door closed to them, Ocon is most likely to stay and partner young Lance Stroll whose Papa Lawrence is considering buying the team and then position it as a Mercedes B-team, similar to what Ferrari have done with Sauber.

Perez would then be forced to look elsewhere and Haas is looking increasingly like his destination. More of that below...

But in truth, any driver confirmation will only happen once the Silverstone based outfit have their finances sorted out.

Although the American team has been incredibly patient with Romain Grosjean, it is clear the Frenchman is playing his last hand in Formula 1... do I really need to explain why!?

The late Sergio Marchionne harboured the dream of returning Maserati to the big leagues and by all accounts, a branding deal, in the Sauber and Alfa Romeo ilk, which is still on the table despite the new senior management at Maranello.

Ferrari are keen to get Antonio Giovinazzi on the grid, thus the Italian partnering the more experienced Kevin Magnussen is a very real possibility...

But also hovering in their sights is Sergio Perez who would be a good fit in the team. Fast, reliable and experienced enough to bring it home regularly, unliked the wayward Frenchman he would replace. The Mexican would also bring in board substantial backing from his loyal and long-standing Mexican backers.

Right now if Ferrari 'do the Maserati thin' with the Haas team, I would expect Kevin to be retained, sharing a garage with Ferrari protege Antonio.

Should Gene Haas decide to retain 'independence' then Sergio alongside Kevin is conceivable, but in truth much depends on the new Ferrari bosses and their long-term intentions in Formula 1.

The Swiss outfit is my team of the year so far. Under the shrewd and no-nonsense leadership of Frederic Vassuer, the team finds itself in the heart of the midfield, with a handy car that has allowed Charles to shine and even Marcus Ericsson is looking reasonable.

It would not be outrageous to predict the team sticking with their current driver pairing, Charles because he is good and brings Ferrari engines at a discount, while Marcus has his buddies running the show from the very top.

However, there is the Stoffel Vandoorne option: should he be shoved out at McLaren he has a big fan and believer in Vasseur who managed the Belgian during his 2015 GP2 championship-winning campaign and still rates him highly.

Times are tough at Grove, set to be even tougher with the end of Martini backing and the likely departure of the Strolls who are seeking greener pastures... make that pinker pastures!

With a horrid car and little light at the end of the tunnel, I cannot imagine that their Grove HQ telephones are ringing off the hook. Instead, I visualise Claire Williams and Paddy Lowe, glued to the blower, seeking billionaire pay drivers to finance their 2019 season.

Personally, I rate rookie Sergey Sirotkin and believe he deserves another proper crack with a car that does not bite him in the ass every time he stomps on the loud pedal. SMP Racing have deep pockets so it would be no surpirse if he is retained.

As for the other seat, it is likely to go to the highest bidder and if no decent offer comes their way, who knows, maybe they will consider giving Robert Kubica a full season to ascertain what he still has in him at the highest level. If they want brownie points giving the Pole a crack would do wonders to their tarnished.

Here, (big) money is more than likely to do the talking...

So that's my take on what will happen. The above speculation is hardly certain but it aptly sums up the current state-of-play. One certainty is that we will have a very different grid next year in terms of which drivers will line-up in what colours.

Right now it is typical Silly Season guesswork based on 'informed sources' who have found little time to make use of that damn expensive sunscreen!

I will be predictable and say: Watch this space!