Don't rule out a silly season bombshell

There is no better place for the silly-season driver merry-go-round rumours to ramp up a notch than the paddock at Monza.

The final throes of summer, the end of the European season and the amphitheatre of Formula 1's most atmospheric track never disappoint.

Even Bernie Ecclestone, responding to the rumblings surrounding the potentially imminent departure of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, conceded that what emerges in the famous Royal Park is always something special.

"At this time of year in Monza it is a lovely time for lots of rumours," he smiled, a few days before those rumours turned out to be completely true.

While on the surface the driver market appears to be settling down - with the Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull line-ups all supposedly sorted for next year - that has done little to dampen feelings the paddock that there could yet be a twist in the tale.

Alonso's loyalty to Ferrari has been tested at times © LAT

We all know the saying that contracts are there to be broken, which is why it's important to dig beyond the headlines and look deeper into people's intentions.

Take Fernando Alonso, for example. What he says and how he says it is accomplished with the same precision as his driving on track, so claims that recent comments mean he has rejected overtures from rival teams are wrong.

"I want to stay at Ferrari and extend my contract," he said ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

"That's my wish, I repeat it every two weeks, at the end of every race, yet it's never said.

"Talk of other teams has never come from my lips; in fact it's always been the opposite."

Is that confirmation he will be at Ferrari for the rest of his career? Not at all.

All he is saying is that he wants to stay at Ferrari. He would like nothing more than to be dominant with the team.

Grosjean must wait for the market to unfold © XPB

But with that first Ferrari title still eluding him, he knows that if he wants success after his contract expires in 2016 he may have to look elsewhere. That's why it's a 'want to' rather than a 'will'.

If Alonso is so eager to stay at Ferrari for as long as he can, why is McLaren holding on so long for him?

Why did he talk to team chiefs Eric Boullier and Ron Dennis?

Why too does Romain Grosjean -a man eager to get himself into a truly competitive car - still think his Spanish rival holds the key to the driver market?

Sometimes what appears on the surface to be a denial is no such thing.

Sebastian Vettel is McLaren's other target for 2016, and he did nothing to dismiss the squad as a serious option.

"I think it is normal that you have a lot of talks. But it doesn't change what you do on a regular day-to-day basis," he said.

Vettel chases Magnussen's McLaren on track - off track it's McLaren pursuing Vettel © LAT

That might sound like a dismissal of the McLaren speculation, but in fact it says nothing of the sort.

It's simply that on a GP Thursday his only thought is on that race weekend, not what's happening in 2016.

In fact he even half-joked that if there was a big-money McLaren offer out there, he would be more than up for it...

"There was talk that I had signed for $150 million for three years. I was asking where the pen was but nobody came back!"

And then, of course, beyond the Alonso/Vettel rumours, there's the big question-mark surrounding the Mercedes drivers.

Toto Wolff's admission that if the season tumbles out of control it may have to look at losing either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg pushed both of them onto the potential list for some teams - and as early as 2015.

What's going on off track is as thrilling as on it right now.

The first rolls of the dice for drivers in 2015, '16 and '17 are already underway - and we haven't even got to those hot, hot nights of Singapore yet.