Kimi Raikkonnen has a "bad back" that will see him miss the final 2 races of the season for Lotus. Although it might seem a bit convenient, it seems that he genuinely has a problem and it allows everyone a way out of what was clearly a very awkward situation. Aparently there is still no sign of the Quantum money. Reserve driver Davide Valsecchi will get a fabulous opportunity to impress at the COTA and in Brazil.

The more the Quantum money fails to appear, the more likely it is that Lotus will opt for Maldonado, not the clearly more talented Hulkenberg.

I have to say, I would like to see Hulkenberg at McLaren, regardless of what Whitmarsh said, Perez hopes and Button prefers!

I half expect to see Alonso at McLaren next year.
He has appeared to be slightly 'off his game' the last couple of races.

I think it's ridiculous that some of the top 10 teams (allegedly) in world motorsport have to take on a driver who pays for his seat - it's meant to be the pinnacle isn't it?

Interesting point Tim; I think Ferrari would fight pretty hard to keep Alonso next year, though he is alleged to be McLaren's target for 2015. Ferrari's strategy for 2014 seems to be that fielding 2 tried and tested fast drivers gives them a much better shot at the constructors' championship, if not at challenging Vettel for the drivers'. For 2015 at McLaren, much depends on how Button goes next year; if he (and/or the car) is lacklustre, I would expect him to retire, leaving room for Alonso plus whichever young(er) gun has the seat. I'm not sure Alonso would fancy trying his luck as a team-mate against a hot-shot like Magnussen, especially if he replaces Perez next year and has a year's worth more experience of the car. If the car is competitive and Button does well, I think he'll want (and probably get) 1 last season. I think Alonso would far rather have Button as a team-mate, so that may play a part.

I can see why people are dredicting Alonso going to McLaren, but I personally doubt it - too much uncomfortable history there.

I do think that Alonso going to McLaren is a bit of a stretch but he's given the impression of falling out of love with Ferrari recently and that's the only place I could imagine him going at present.
Mind you, until Newey leaves Red Bull, anywhere else is going to be relatively second division.

Looking forward to next season. Although the last tow races are on great circuits so it could be a bit of fun.

All depends on how Red Bull copes with the new specs. The moved exhaust regs rule out usingt that as a tool, which I believe Red Bull get the most out of and Vetel deals with better than anyone else. It was interesting that Williams dropped the theoretical faster coanda exhaust and both drivers had far better races and they both commented on how much more driveable the car was.

Much will depend upon engines too for a change. This is where Ferrari are allegedly behind the pack and Alonso may prefer taking his chances with a MB engined car, which leaves McLaren as an option.

Of course McLaren will only be a Merc-engined outfit for 1 more season. I think most teams seem to be struggling with the new engine powertrain (with the possible exception of Renault, I mean Lotus, I mean Enstone, I mean Quantum), finding that additional weight is the only way to make the units reliable enough to last the requisite number of races. McLaren are obviously hoping that Honda will learn from the mistakes of others and hit the ground running. It will be interesting, but I fear RBR will still be the team to beat by some distance...

...although Adrian Newey has thrown the rest a bone -
"Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey has admitted his team has had to compromise the development of its 2014 car in order to make sure of retaining the title this year"

If you believe him, that is.

Newey is just like sir Alex. Doesn't matter what happens at the start of a season 5 games / drives in and he's proving he's the best!

Let's hope Adrian chucks a steering wheel at Vettel's head and demands his sacking pretty soon then...

And Massa to Williams...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24897809

And Perez out at McLaren

Does anyone know what time the highlights will be on BBC of this weekend's race? Presumably quite late on Sunday night...?

Qualifying at 18:00, race at 19:00 according to this but I assume more detail will appear.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17238688

That's the live time of the race, I think. Ploughing through radiotimes.com doesn't actually reveal a listing for the race...

Exactly...

The BBC website only appears to give detail for the races that have already run.
Helpful

Blooming repeats!

Qualifying Highlights
BBC Two
Saturday
22:30
BBC Two
EXCEPT WALES

SUN 17 NOV 22:25
BBC One
The US Grand Prix - Highlights
Highlights from the Circuit of the Americas, Texas, the penultimate race of 2013.

Hope this is as good as last year's race.
Even half as good will do.

Cheers Lego, although that's way past my bedtime for a school night, so I'll be recording it!

Shame Raikkonnen won't be racing but let's hope someone denies Vettel, for interest's sake.

Looks like Kovalainen is going to fill Raikkonen's seat for the remainder of the year.

Kovalainen somehow didn't release his true potential at McLaren, but it will be interesting to see what he can do with a decent car.

See if you can find a pic of Hamilton's helmet for this weekend's race.

I am really beginning to understand why McLaren "restricted" him so much...

He seems to be growing up in reverse.

Do you think that ex-missus of his got him into it?

I'm not sure, at least with her he seemed to be making some sort of attempt at being a grown-up. His "exclusive" column on the BBC website is so full of dreadful homespun "spirituality" and faux-humility it's as though it was written by a 15-year-old kid.

Putting in a search for Lewis Hamilton's helmet must be fraught with risks, especially on a work computer.

I can only find the one for Monaco with caricatures of him and his ex on the back.
What should I be looking for?

May I point you at his Twitter Feed... ?

Thanks.
I feel dirty now (and not just because I've been on Twitter :D).

I'm a bit worried that he is actually a Sacha Baron Cohen spoof of himself.

He has been messing with his helmet for ages... it seems to be something a lot of the younger fellows enjoy doing

You surely can't have failed to spot some of the Valentino Rossi helmets? The one with his face on the top looked really odd

We'll this one has Jacko on top. I think it looks ok actually I'm just glad he wasn't a Garry glitter fan