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When Formula 1 reconvenes in Melbourne, Felipe Massa will be on hand, back in the Williams he never wanted to vacate in the first place, but many paddock fixtures will not. I allude not to Jost Capito, who departed from McLaren almost before he had arrived, but to such as Ron Dennis, Fred Vasseur, Pat Symonds, Jenson Button - as well as reigning world champion Nico Rosberg, and overwhelmingly Bernie Ecclestone, who ran the whole thing for more than four decades.
Dennis, as we know, lost control of McLaren some time ago when Mansour Ojjeh and the Crown Prince of Bahrain declined to renew his contract, while Vasseur left Renault after a long battle with Cyril Abiteboul, most feeling that the wrong man was pushed out.
Symonds's planned retirement was brought forward a year by Williams, where Paddy Lowe - his gardening leave from Mercedes pruned by Toto Wolff's need to sign Valtteri Bottas - assumes control of all technical aspects of the Williams group, as well as becoming a shareholder and director.
