[Jody Barton]

I think next year's car will already be pretty much set in stone in terms of general concept, so on that point Binotto will have given the car its blueprint / DNA already. However, next year the aero regs are pretty much an entirely new set of rules. No blown axels, which'll hurt both RBR and Ferrari, but do diddly squat to Mercedes as they don't run them. So, there is a serious chance that next year you could start with a pig, and if the guy who designed it isn't there to guide development it could all go very, very wrong. We have totally new front wings, completely revised floor rules, very different barge board and sidepod regs, new rules on exhaust blowing, altered diffusers and completely new rear wings. It's actually quite a change. Which is why the news Mercedes had started concentrating on their new car during the summer break sent chills down the spines of the rest of the paddock. Mercs updates from Spa to Suzuka were already pipelined before the summer break. Simply put they are f'ing relentless and in total beast mode. Ferrari losing Binotto to them as well would be serious blow.

NeilP as far as Mercedes are concerned, and where would Binotto fit in? Toto still has a big hole in his organisation structure he hasn't filled since Bob Bell left in 2014. There's also the fact that both Aldo Costa and Mark Ellis are stepping down or taking sabbaticals, and that a certain James Allison has been reshaping the team and structure... so if the rumours are true, and Mercedes are after Binotto, then Allison has a place and a post for him all lined up. Mercedes have been quietly recruiting and shunting people around since Allison arrived, and this year we saw the first fruits of that. Mercedes were caught for the first time in the turbo hybrid era, but they made zero development mistakes on their car. They bolted something on, the car went quicker.