For example, everybody has known for months that Force India will be choosing Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg for next season, and the team should finally announce that decision by the end of the week.

At Toro Rosso, however, nobody was quite sure what was going to happen. Many thought that Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari had done a decent job last season, and that they deserved to keep their positions in the team into 2012. True, there are a host of Red Bull-sponsored young drivers vying for their seats, but at least one was going to stay, weren’t they?

No! The announcement came today, and it revealed that Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne would be taking the two seats at the Red Bull sister team. Buemi had served three seasons, Alguersuari two-and-a-half, but they have now been turfed-out of the team, and will have to fend for themselves in future.

It may seem like a harsh move for Toro Rosso - Buemi and Alguersuari have been good servants as the team have moved to building their own cars and pushing themselves up the grid – but this is the cut-throat world of motorsport. Although both good, neither driver looked as though they were going to be the next Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo and Vergne have a lot of promise about them, and next season they will need to shine. Unless Mark Webber has a better season at Red Bull in 2012, there will be a vacant seat at the championship-winning team in 2013, and the two rookies are in the prime position to make their claim to be team-mate to Vettel in one year’s time…

• TheCheckeredFlag is the week looking back over the 2011 F1 season in a five-part review written by yours truly. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, and Part 3 is here. Part 4 will be out tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 08:00 GMT, with Part 5 following 24 hours later.

When the official FIA entry list was published last week, there were nine empty spaces on the grid. One of HRT‘s seats was already taken by Pedro de la Rosa, but a mix-up with paper-work was given as the reason why the Spaniard’s name did not appear. Since then, Williams have given Pastor Maldonado another season to display his talents, and today the unfilled seat at Renault was allocated to Grosjean.

This leaves just six seats on the grid for next season – about the same number that the BBC need to fill after Sky poached their best people – and countless drivers queuing up to fill them. This is by no means an exhaustive list of hopeful job hunters, just a sample: Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg, Rubens Barrichello, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, Daniel Ricciardo, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Karun Chandhok, Jean-Eric Vergne, and now Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov are all hoping to be on the grid next season.

One of the worst kept secrets in the Formula 1 paddock is that Force India will choose Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg for next season – hopefully the announcement will come next week. Toro Rosso will choose to either stick with Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, or pick other drivers from the Red Bull Young Driver programme, like Ricciardo or Vergne to replace one or both of them.

That leaves just two seats: one at Williams, and the other at HRT. Whoever is hopeful of securing the later will need sponsors with deep pockets, and a Spanish passport would probably be useful as well. Sutil, Barrichello, Petrov and Senna are experienced drivers, each with over 20 grand prix to their names, and at least half of them will be without a seat next season.

First of all, the return of Kimi Raikkonen is announced by Renault, who sign the Finn on a two-year deal and now, tonight, there is the slightly less exciting news that Williams have confirmed Pastor Maldonado will get another season at the team next year.

Already the cynical people will be saying that this appointment is nothing to do with driver talent, and instead is all about the vast quantities of sponsorship money that will flood into the team’s coffers from the Venezuelan state-owned oil company.

Obviously Adam Parr, Chairman of Williams, may have given some thought to finances when selecting his drivers for next year, but don’t forget that Maldonado is the 2010 GP2 champion and was by no means out-shone by the vastly experienced Rubens Barrichello at the team last season.

Maldonado may have only scored one point from Williams‘ miserly tally of four but, if it was not for a run-in with Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps of the Monaco Grand Prix (for which the Brit received a penalty), then Maldonado will have comfortably have out-scored his Brazilian team-mate last year.

My colleague at thecheckeredflag.co.uk, Peter Allen, who knows a thing or two about GP2, GP3, and other F1 feeder series, really  rates Maldonado as a a driver, and it will be interesting to see how he does next season with what Williams are hoping will be a much-improved car.

He is also seems like a nice bloke, who comes across well in interviews. When I was part of a crowd standing at the pit wall after the Australian Grand Prix back in March, all of us heckling Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan as they were trying to broadcast, the Venezuelan walked across the pitlane to say hello to the hoards and sign a few autographs. I saw no other driver do the same…

Pastor Maldonado crosses the pitlane to greet his adoring public after the race in Australia

The announcement means that, for the first time ever, there will be six world champions on the grid as the 2012 season begins in Melbourne next March.

For Renault, this is a great signing. The team are looking to change direction after a dismal end to their season, and a former world champion will give the team the impetus to push their way up the grid. Raikkonen and A.N. Other signal their intentions much better than if the team had selected two of Romain Grosjean, Vitaly Petrov or Bruno Senna.

But this surge to the front is unlikely to happen over the winter. Michael Schumacher stepped into Mercedes at the beginning of last season and, although things are improving, the seven-time world champion has not even been close to winning a race within two season. Renault start from an even lower base and, barring a miraculous turnaround of fortunes, Raikkonen is not going to enjoy the kind of competitiveness that he had in his eight years at McLaren and Ferrari.

Although Raikkonen says he has no problem with motivation now, what will happen after a few races of failing to get through to Q3 on a Saturday and then scrapping for points on a Sunday. Will the Finn have the patience to do this? How long will this comeback last?

Raikkonen talked about his desire to return to F1. He misses the racing. It may be that he gets into the Renault and enjoys himself, just as Schumacher has been doing at Mercedes, regardless of the results. Lets hope so…

It was full of entertaining articles, including detailed run-downs of the races in Singapore, Japan and Korea, a couple of pages on the 5Live commentary team in Spa-Francorchamps, and a very interesting record of a discussion between Maurice Hamilton and Mike Gascoyne over lunch in a Norfolk pub.

However, the was one description by journalist Anthony Peacock, introducing a fascinating interview with Kimi Raikkonen, which I, for some reason, thought was particularly clever. Therefore, I am going to share it again here.

“In the rarefied atmosphere of [F1] the air is as rendolent with self-absorption as it is with designer aftershave and there are more hidden agendas than in the cellar of a stationary shop”

Yes, Michael Schumacher was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first ever race, which also took place at this legendary Spa circuit. The circuit commentators were keen to mention it at every possible opportunity, and it was understandably a topic that featured heavily in newspaper columns and news reports throughout the weekend.

Even on the Friday it was clear that this was not just another race for Schumacher. In the ‘F1 Village’ – which is a basically a posh name for place with all the merchandising stands – there was an outlet selling just Schumacher goods. This is in addition to the Mercedes stands, which obviously was also selling Schumacher merchandise. The dedicated store, something I have never seen at an F1 circuit before, was popular, even on the Friday.

There was a popular stand dedicated to all things Michael Schumacher in Spa last weekend

The Schumacher-mania went up a notch after Free Practice 1 on Friday morning when the seven-time world champion set the fastest time in that first 90-minute session. He and team-mate Nico Rosberg were the only runners to complete a timed lap before the rain fell, but even so there were people predicting some sort of fairy-tale weekend for Schumacher.

The celebrations were a bit soured on Saturday in qualifying when the right-rear tyre fell off Schumacher’s car on his out-lap in Q1. The anniversary race would begin from the back of the grid.

Nevertheless, Mercedes threw a party for Schumacher that evening, and it seemed that most of the other drivers turned up to the track to share a beer with the most successful driver in the history of the sport.

Michael Schumacher (standing centre) and other current F1 drivers share a beer in Belgium - Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

Of course, come race day, Schumacher took advantage of many favourable factors – a good start, a first corner accident, a safety car, the excellent engine in the back of his Mercedes, DRS, and the fact that, by starting outside the top ten, he could get his medium-tyre stint out of the way early on in the grand prix and be on the faster soft tyre when the cars he was overtaking were struggling with the medium compound – to finish fifth.

It was a charge through the field that was undoubtably helped by a number of incidents – the retirement of Lewis Hamilton, the safety car that resulted from the Brit’s crash, and the fact that team-mate Rosberg was running low on fuel towards the end of the race – but still Schumacher demonstrated some excellent race craft and good overtaking skill. There were reminders Schumacher’s talents before he retired in 2006 – in fact, one could draw several parallels between this race and his great drive in Interlagos that year – and it was great to watch.

Another driver worthy of mention on Sunday was Jenson Button. He showed some excellent overtaking skill as he took the final podium place after starting thirteenth. However, unlike Schumacher, who would have been very unlikely to finish any higher than fifth wherever he had qualified on Saturday, there is a good chance Button would have been in with a chance of the win on Sunday had he made it into Q3 the previous day.

But is was Vettel who won the race on Sunday – his first victory since Valencia – to go 92 points clear at the top of the standings, increasing the gap to team-mate Mark Webber. With this triumph, the German has virtually quashed the faint hopes of someone mounting a challenge for the 2011 drivers crown, and it is now a matter of when, rather than whether Vettel will take the title. My bet is he will do it with a dominant win in Suzuka, Japan.

So, what was it like to attend a grand prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit? A friend on Twitter last week warned ‘you’ll get soaked through, frozen solid then sunburnt all in the course of one weekend [at Spa]‘.

Two out of three ain’t bad, as Meatloaf put it. It was definitely wet, especially on Friday and Saturday, but the most noticeable aspect of the weather was the stupidly low temperature – the Ardennes forest in August was beginning to feel like Sheffield in the middle of December. Unfortunately, although the sun did appear briefly on occasion, it was barely enough to top up Vitamin D levels, let alone catch enough rays to start resembling a lobster.

The weather did not matter though, and not just because my grandstand was covered. The majesty of the venue just does not come over on the television – you can only appreciate the massive gradients in the circuit and its beautiful surroundings by being there. Moreover, to watch an F1 car, or even a GP2 car, go up Eau Rougue, is a real treat. It is, in someways, comparable to a cork flying out of a champagne bottle as the cars come out of that legendary corner and begin their high-speed climb towards the Kemmel Straight and Les Combes.

One fan decides that a 100-metre board would go perfectly above his mantlepiece

At the end of the race on Sunday, as is customary at some other circuits, fans are permitted on track. That really is a special experience at Spa, and one feels as though they are walking on hallowed ground. All around me fans were taking photos of strange things like kerbs, tyre marks and starting lights, or picking up rubber marbles as souvenirs of their weekend in Belgium. One fan even decided he needed something slightly bigger (see right).

In summary then, the weather was atrocious – I did spend most of the weekend shivering – the food at the track was extortionately priced and the traffic in and out of the circuit, especially on the Sunday, was terrible. However, the track is fantastic, the racing was excellent, and to be there on such a special weekend, where the most successful driver in the history of the sport had a fantastic drive from the back of the grid to finish fifth, far outweighs any major downside. If you are a big F1 fan, Spa-Francorchamps should be top of your list of destinations to visit.

Finally, here are a selection of scenes that you may not have seen on TV over the weekend:

Here is the first glimpse of the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit...

The grandstand roof saved us from several drenchings...

Some fans at the track share their views on the BBC/Sky deal - pedants might point out that F1 is being kept on the BBC anyway, but the designers probably couldn't fit the word 'exclusively' on the banner

Walking around the track you could see the hardcore F1 fans that preferred to sit on rocks under trees rather than on plastic seats in grandstands

View from the La Source grandstand: Sebastian Vettel leads the rest of the grid for the formation lap

Fans venture out on track after Vettel takes victory in Belgium

Despite the howling wind and intermittent rain, nothing could dampen the spirits of us British fans as we watched Jenson Button take his second victory of the season at an exciting Hungarian Grand Prix.

For much of the race it looked as though Lewis Hamilton would be the victor, but that was before what seemed like an inexplicable switch to intermediate tyres and then the drive-through penalty which, at the time, the crowd I was sitting amongst could not understand.

Obviously after the race we found out that Hamilton had been penalised for coming back onto the track in front of Paul di Resta in a rather cavalier fashion, causing the Force India driver to take off-track evasive action.

For the spectators in my grandstand though, the most dramatic memory of the race will be seeing Nick Heidfeld‘s car come to a stop in front of us, with flames billowing out of the side. Even more memorable was the loud explosion that came from the Renault shortly afterwards.

Nick Heidfeld's car on fire in front of our grandstand at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend

Of course, Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in the drivers championship and it does not yet look as though one driver will emerge to consistently challenge the German. Vettel may only win a couple more races this season, but such is his points advantage and penchant for podium finishes, a second consecutive title now looks inevitable.

But anyway, the Hungaroring is a pretty decent track for spectators (although it would have been even better if the sun had shone, as it usually does in Hungary for the grand prix weekend), and Budapest is an excellent city. In fact, this article for thecheckeredflag.co.uk explains why the Hungarian Grand Prix should be a celebrated feature of the F1 calendar. If anybody is looking to travel to a foreign grand prix, Hungary would be a great place to consider.

Incidentally, Budapest also has a famous bridge, across the river Danube, called ‘The Chain’ Bridge. However, as it was built between 1839-49, it is probably not named after the Fleetwood Mac hit that introduces the BBC F1 coverage.

'The Chain' Bridge in Budapest which is, apparently, not named after the Fleetwood Mac song

Speaking of UK television coverage, there will no doubt be a future blog post on the new BBC/SKY deal at some point in the future.

And for some reason, the race previews written for thecheckeredflag.co.uk regularly get picked up by the BBC F1 website, which then provides links to the article.

Obviously, this is all done by some sort of automated algorithm – BBC F1 online editor Andrew Benson is not permanently surfing the internet and looking for articles worthy of inclusion as one of the ‘From Other Sports Sites’ links on the right-hand side of a gossip page. However, it is nice to get these pieces recognised by the national broadcaster of your home country, and no doubt it helps to get more traffic to the site.

This has been happening with race previews for nearly a year now. I remember seeing the first link as I was sitting at Heathrow airport about to board a plane to the Singapore Grand Prix last September.

But today, thanks to some recent tinkering with how the stories are published on the site, the BBC link not only includes the title of the article but also, for the first time, the name of the author (i.e. me). The gossip page lists stories of all these famous F1 people (Lewis Hamilton, Martin Whitmarsh, Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard) and then, at the right-hand side of the page, is my name.

Fame At Last: A link on the BBC F1 gossip page now includes my name

Of course, this page will be gone tomorrow. In fact, if the links are updated today, the preview will sink down to the bottom of the list and then disappear into the ether. Therefore, this blog post formed, just to preserve this brief moment of rather obscure fame (apologies for the oxymoron).

Right, enough of this self-regarding nonsense. Time to think of something more insightful to write…

UPDATE: Scrap that. Name has now been removed. Link to preview is still there but name has disappeared. Booooo Hisssssssss.

• The Checkered Flag’s ‘Hungarian Grand Prix 2011: Preview (- written by David Bean) is here.
• Today’s BBC F1 gossip column, which provides links to other great stories, can be found here, and is well worth a daily look.

In some ways though, it was a bit of an unusual weekend. A series of strange events unfolded throughout the weekend, all in unusually cold weather.

For a sport that tends to follow the world’s summers, it was very chilly at the Nürburgring this weekend. Drivers struggled to get heat into their tyres, which resulted in a loss of grip, and lots of lock-ups. The various media, especially those walking up and down the pit lane, mentioned the cold weather at every possible opportunity, although it is always pretty difficult to feel much sympathy for anybody paid to travel to races and watch Formula 1 for a living.

Admittedly, there is nothing very strange about a bit of cold weather. There was, however, an unusual story on Thursday evening about certain drivers having illegal race suits. Seven drivers had heat-pressed FIA logos on their overalls, but regulations state that these logos must be embroided on.

That story prompted this short article on the thecheckeredflag.co.uk, which somehow remained at the top of the ‘Today’s Most Popular Articles’ list for all of Friday and most of Saturday – proof, if any was needed, that a good pun in a headline is worth far more than a decent article.

(There was a strong rival for ‘pun of the weekend’ from this headline by James Broomhead about a celebrity race at the Silverstone Classic weekend).

The stewards continued to give the weekend a strange dimension when Sebastien Buemi was sent to the back of the grid after a post-qualifying fuel sample was found to be irregular. It breached the well-known Article 19.8.3 which states (simply):

“GC peak areas of the sample will be compared with those obtained from the reference fuel. Increases in any given peak area (relative to its adjacent peak areas) which are greater than 12 per cent, or an absolute amount greater than 0.1 per cent for compounds present at concentrations below 0.8 per cent, will be deemed not to comply.

“If a peak is detected in a fuel sample that was absent in the corresponding reference fuel, and its peak area represents more than 0.10 per cent of the summed peak areas of the fuel, the fuel will be deemed not to comply.

“If the deviations observed (above) by GC indicate that they are due to mixing with another Formula One fuel, which has been approved by the FIA for use by the team, the fuel sample will be deemed to comply, provided that the adulterant fuel is present at no more than 10 per cent in the sample.”

Of course, there is no dispute that Buemi’s fuel broke the rules and so it was right that Toro Rosso were given the penalty. The team had a perfectly reasonably explanation for the inconsistency between the fuel in the car and the reference sample, and there was no evidence of any cheating. However, the whole episode recalled stories of fuel-tampering from a bygone era of F1.

Then, yesterday afternoon, just after Lewis Hamilton had taken his victory, there was another re-enactment of F1 past: Fernando Alonso had to park his car on the lap back to the pits, and Mark Webber gave him a lift round to the podium. It was a nice scene, reminiscent of Nigel Mansell giving Ayrton Senna a lift back to the pits at the end of the 1991 British Grand Prix.

One week on, we hopefully still remember the great race that took place last Sunday evening – the four hour epic that was won by Jenson Button, despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel had led for pretty much all but the last three corners.

Button’s win was impressive – it was a storming drive through the field before pressuring the reigning world champion into a mistake and taking what he described as the best victory of his career.

But there were a couple of other things that need remarking on in that great race. The first: a great result for Michael Schumacher, and one that would have been much better had DRS not allowed Mark Webber to drive straight past him.

I reckon Schumacher – who was showing signs of being back at his imperious best last Sunday – would have had a good chance of defending third position from the Red Bull driver. Instead, he was cruelly denied the first podium position of his comeback thanks to some unnecessary artificial device. (As you may have guessed, DRS is not my favourite innovation of 2011).

The second thing to note: the great result for Hispania Racing. Tonio Liuzzi took thirteenth place, finishing ahead of both Virgin Racing and both Team Lotus cars.

The Lotus lot had reliability problems on race day and would have been easily ahead of Hispania otherwise, but the Spanish team were faster than Virgin on merit, as shown in qualifying on Saturday.

This result is made all the more remarkable considering how Hispania’s season started. I was in Australia making disparaging remarks about the team that failed to qualify within the 107% rule just like everybody else. In Melbourne, the team seemed to be putting their new car together for the first time, despite having a two weeks of extra preparation time thanks to the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and they were quickly becoming the butt of a lot of jokes.

It will be interesting to see if Hispania can stay ahead of Virgin for the next few races. Team boss Colin Kolles says that they are aiming for tenth place in the Constructors’ championship and a few more races like Canada and they could be well on course to reach this milestone.