There will be no more BMW next season. The German automaker’s F1 programme is a victim of the economic downturn, leaving the future of the Swiss-based team in doubt.

The remnant Sauber team has received financial support from Qadback Investments, but has not yet secured a place on the grid for 2010. It is first reserve team, meaning it will get in should any of the 13 entries for 2010 not take their place.

Driver Robert Kubica has already signed a contract with Renault for 2010, while Nick Heidfeld’s vast experience will make him a valuable commodity in the driver market.

Kubica will replace Fernando Alonso, who has secured his dream move to Ferrari for 2010. The Spaniard won two world championships with Renault and had been more closely identified with his team than any other driver.

Alonso’s arrival means there is no room for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, where he, too, won a world championship, in 2007. Raikkonen is in talks about a return to McLaren, but the Finn has been making noises about a switch to rally driving.

Giancarlo Fisichella’s F1 career may also be at an end after 230 Grand Prix races. The Italian has been employed as Ferrari’s test driver next season, and while he also holds out the possibility of a switch to a race drive in 2010, his poor performances for Ferrari this year would not have increased demand.

On the technical side, Abu Dhabi was the last appearance of mid-race refueling, and the KERS power-boost system. The refueling ban is a cost-cutting measure, so teams don’t have to tote the hefty rig around the world for races. It will prompt a redesign of chassis to accommodate a larger 
fuel tank.

KERS has proven to be an expensive experiment gone wrong. Hailed as an environmental breakthrough — it stores the energy from braking and then allows that to be used for a quick power boost — it proved too problematic and heavy for most teams. The strongest teams in the 2009 season, Brawn GP and Red Bull, succeeded despite not using the technology.

Abu Dhabi is likely to be the last Grand Prix in the short F1 career of Romain Grosjean.

The Frenchman was drafted in to replace the disgraced Nelson Piquet Jr. following revelations of the deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore 
Grand Prix.

Grosjean had not finished above 13^th in his six races leading into Abu Dhabi, and had managed to spin out in almost every on-track session from practice to races, even more so than his error-prone predecessor. “If Romain does drop out of the equation, it will be sad to lose him from the Renault program and he’s French, so that carries some consequences for the team,” Renault acting team principal Bob Bell said. “But ultimately — and Renault fully support us in this — we need to put the best drivers in the car that we can afford for next year.”

Grosjean’s task was not helped by the ban on in-season testing, meaning he was forced to learn on the job at race weekends.

He also had a giant measuring stick in the form of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso as a teammate.

Lewis Hamilton’s late-season surge came far too late to defend his world championship, but the McLaren driver believes his team is primed for a 2010 title shot.

Hamilton had secured a top-three place in either qualifying or a race for seven of the last eight races and can’t wait for next season to begin.

“When you come from a team where for two years you have had a good, competitive car, to the beginning of the year where you had your doubts and you felt the car was just nowhere, and didn’t know when or if it would get better — it’s encouraging for the future,” Hamilton said.

Ferrari and Renault long ago turned their attentions to developing the 2010 car, stopping work on the current model. While McLaren had continued to put development funds and effort into its 2009 car, Hamilton did not feel that would put them at a disadvantage next year. —