Mark Hughes: F1's Inside Line

What's a contract worth? Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli each have contracts with their current teams. If the first of these is not fulfilled, there will be a domino effect that could cause one or more of the others being frustrated, too. It's quite amusing hearing teams trying to blandly neutralise the aggressive ruthlessness of their contractual positions.

Fernando Alonso has two years of a McLaren contract left, but many believe he's driven his last GP for the team.

Official comment, Ron Dennis: 'Fernando has a contract with our team, this is the first of three years. We aren't going to have any dialogue with drivers about whether they may wish to stay or not stay until after this race. A great driver and a great talent.'

Possible translation: He has been so disruptive this year, once it was clear that he had a real fight on his hands with Lewis Hamilton, that we cannot countenance another year of such draining, destructive emotions and we are already committed to letting him go. He is however a very great driver and talent and so whoever wants him will have to pay us a great deal of money.

Given Lewis's performance this year, we feel able to surrender Alonso's ability in exchange for a more harmonious team. Just as Alonso's presence allowed us to take a risk on Hamilton, now Hamilton's presence allows us to relinquish Alonso.

Felipe Massa has just apparently been re-signed to Ferrari until the end of 2010 but few believe he will get to see out that contract.

Official comment, Jean Todt: 'There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks about our driver line-up and we wanted to put an end to this, so we decided to bring forward what we intended to do anyway in extending Felipe's contract. He has done a great job for us and we feel this is what he deserves and will give him great motivation.'

Possible translation: Felipe was getting a bit unnerved about all the speculation of Alonso coming here, especially as Kimi Raikkonen is contracted to the end of 2009. So we did this to calm him down. We might still bring Alonso here in 2009, in which case the remaining years on Felipe's contract will have to be bought out. I personally don't want Alonso to join Ferrari, but the decision isn't only mine. I have a boss who would dearly love to see Alonso paired with Raikkonen at Ferrari.

Rubens Barrichello has a year to run on his Honda contract but there have been strong rumours recently that he may not be in the car next year.

Official comment, Nick Fry: 'It's clear that Rubens has a contract with us for next year and it has been announced for some time.'

Possible translation: We want to create a vacancy here if necessary in case we can get Alonso. Rubens has been slightly slower than Jenson overall so he'd be the one we'd sacrifice. Our performance clause is sufficiently woolly that we have room to negotiate a settlement even though we all know that the main reason for his terrible season is the rubbish car we've given him.

Nico Rosberg has a rock solid contract with Williams and may be there next year. But he's also regularly mentioned as a possible Alonso replacement at McLaren.

Official comment, Frank Williams: 'Nico is contracted to us, is very much part of our plans and will be fulfilling his contract. He will not be driving for anyone but Williams next year.'

Possible translation: If McLaren want to replace Alonso with Nico, Ron is going to have to pay us an eye- watering sum of money to release him from his contract. Similarly, if Toyota want him, there needs to be a massive financial adjustment in our commercial agreement.

Jarno Trulli has two years still to run on his Toyota contract but the team is being strangely reticent about confirming whether that will be fulfilled.

Official comment, John Howett: 'Jarno has a contract for next year. Is his 2008 seat secure? That's a difficult question to answer. I guess if his performance is good enough he'll be in the car.'

Possible translation: We too want to be in a position to give Alonso a seat should he decide to come with us. We may need to pay Jarno's contract out should Fernando say 'yes' to us. There may be room for them both, but that depends upon our negotiations with Frank about getting Nico here.

And we haven't yet had official comments from Red Bull or BMW, both teams with fully contracted drivers already, yet with whom Alonso has been linked.

But here's a thought: because the car is the dominant performance factor, not the driver, given how competitive the '08 McLaren is likely to be, surely a bigger deal than where Alonso might drive next year is who might take his place. Chances are, whoever it is will figure more strongly in next year's world championship than Alonso himself.