Who is going and who is staying ahead of new Formula One season

Graham Caygill looks at which drivers will make the moves.

Jenson Button’s future is up in the air. Mark Thompson / Getty Images

The duel for the drivers’ championship takes centre stage this weekend at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but it is not just an important weekend for title protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Only four of the 10 teams racing this weekend in Abu Dhabi have named their complete driver line-ups for 2015 and several deals are expected to be announced over the weekend in the capital or during next week’s post-season testing sessions at Yas Marina Circuit.

Here is a look at what the situation is at each of the teams.

Mercedes-GP

Rosberg and Hamilton are both staying with the constructors’ champions next year.

Rosberg signed a new deal, reported to be for three years, while Hamilton is set to begin negotiations over a new deal with Mercedes next week, with his current agreement expiring at the end of 2015.

Red Bull Racing

It is the end of an era this weekend as Sebastian Vettel leaves the Austrian team after six years, in which the German won four titles. He will be replaced as Daniel Ricciardo’s partner by Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. Ricciardo has had an impressive first year with Red Bull, his three wins making him the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race in 2014.

Williams

The most improved team of 2014 will be looking for more of the same next year after they maintained their status quo by retaining Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. Victories will be the goal in 2015 having scored seven podium finishes this season.

Ferrari

There have been no official announcements from the Italian team, but Vettel is set to join next year from Red Bull, as a replacement for Fernando Alonso, who joined Ferrari in 2010. The delay in confirmation is believed to be because of protracted negotiations to do with the financial terms of a settlement between Alonso and Ferrari as his contract ends.

Vettel is set to be paired with 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who will remain with the team despite a disappointing campaign that has left him only 12th in the drivers’ standings.

McLaren-Mercedes

The team with the biggest questions still to be answered.

Alonso is expected to move to McLaren from Ferrari for 2015, when they will move from Mercedes engine power to Honda, though negotiations with the Spaniard’s current employers have delayed confirmation of his plans for next year.

With the arrival of Alonso, who raced for the team previously in 2007, it means one of this year’s drivers – Jenson Button, below, or Kevin Magnussen – will lose their race seat.

Button, the 2009 world champion, has scored more points, but Magnussen has shown impressive raw pace in his rookie year, particularly in qualifying, even if that has not always translated itself into good results on race day.

Force India

Nico Hulkenberg has already been confirmed as staying with Vijay Mallya’s squad next year.

Teammate Sergio Perez is also expected to sign a new deal, though that has yet to be announced.

Toro Rosso

In September their line-up looked set with 17-year-old Max Verstappen coming in to replace Jean-Eric Vergne, above, to race alongside Kvyat.

But Vettel’s departure from Red Bull saw Kvyat drafted in to replace the German, leaving a void at Toro Rosso.

Vergne, who had looked likely to drop out of F1, is now favourite to remain with the team to partner Verstappen, who will become the youngest driver to compete in the history of F1, though they could still plump for another Red Bull youngster after Carlos Sainz Jr won the Formula 3.5 series this year.

Lotus

A tough year for the team, who will move from Renault to Mercedes power next season as they look to return to the front end of the grid.

They will do so with the same drivers, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, who have toiled through an uncompetitive campaign this year, with only three finishes in the top 10.

Sauber

The Swiss team are at present the only team making a complete change in line-up with Marcus Ericsson moving to the team from Caterham, while Brazilian Felipe Nasr steps up from GP2, where he will race this weekend as he looks to seal the runner-up spot in the championship.

Adrian Sutil said he believed he had a contract with the team to race next year, but faces Sunday being his last F1 race. Esteban Gutierrez, meanwhile, looks like he will be off the grid in 2015.

Caterham

There are huge doubts on whether the cash-strapped team will make the grid in 2015, with only donations from the public and investors helping them make it to Abu Dhabi after they missed the races in the United States and Brazil.

Ericsson will definitely not be racing for them after switching to Sauber and thoughts about drivers will almost certainly be in the background until the future of the team can be secured.

Marussia

They went out of business this month, but the remnants of the team in their original naming, Manor Racing, may live on under that guise, or another, if investment can be found.

Driver Jules Bianchi remains in a stable, but critical condition in hospital after receiving severe head injuries in a crash in the Japanese Grand Prix in October.

Max Chilton, who had raced alongside Bianchi the past two seasons, has been linked with racing for Caterham this weekend as the Briton bids to remain in F1.

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