The Melbourne grid - 2010?

[andartop]

Maybe Melbourne will be left out of the 2010 Championship, so it will look empty.

[WhiteBlue]

....
Theissen/Rampf (Ex BMW)

The last one is perhaps the wildest speculation, but I cannot see BMW fit in this new situation.

LOL, that may come back to haunt you!

BMW are perfectly set up to use their resources for other type of motor sport and high performance road car development if they decide to go with a limited budget. The whole team is interagted into the structure of R&D of the group. They would just shift the focus to different activities. I could well see them in Le Mans again. Motor sport at BMW has never been just F1. Theissen runs the whole shebang and would just shift the program to adjust to the changes. They would never pull out in such a situation, unless Fota decides to race elsewhere, which I don't think they will over such an issue.

[zgred]

There will be 26 cars on the starting grid of next year's World Championship, FOM boss Bernie Ecclestone has said. The F1 supremo is keen to bolster the line-up and, with the USGPE (formerly USF1) already keen for a place on the grid, two new outfits are likely to be revealed this year.

"We'll have 26 cars on the grid next year," Ecclestone stated. "We've got a lot of people confirmed." The current grid contains ten teams, meaning 20 competitors battling to be in contention in Australia this weekend.

"Trick or treat" from small liar?

[xpensive]

With the latest development on the diffuser-charade, where Ferrari reportedly will spend 20 MEUR in order to "basically build a new car", I think the manufacturers finally have had enough of all this nonsense.

I can see Renault, Toyota and BMW missing from next years grid, while that might be the general idea from Max?