Now that the 2011 season is behind us, Formula One is focusing on the year ahead. So far, the top teams are keeping their talents in place: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will continue at Red Bull Racing, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton will take another crack at McLaren, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will soldier on at Scuderia Ferrari, and Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will stick it out another season at what's now begin called the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.
The bigger changes are happening in the mid-field and back-market teams. Lotus (formerly Renault) is bringing back Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Toro Rosso is likewise switching up its roster with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Meanwhile Sauber and Caterham (formerly Lotus) are both keeping their drivers (Kaumi Kobayashi & Sergio Perez, and Heikki Kovalainen & Jarno Trulli, respectively).
HRT has picked up perennial McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa, but has yet to announce its second seat. Marussia (formerly Virgin) is keeping Timo Glock and bringing in lackluster newcomer Charles Pic.Williams is keeping Pastor Maldonado but has yet to confirm whether Rubens Barrichello will be returning. And the final piece to the puzzle was filled in today when Force India announced it is keeping former DTM champ Paul di Resta in place, but replacing Adrian Sutil with Nico Hulkenberg, a German driver who raced for Williams after winning titles in Formula 3, A1GP and GP2 and who spent last year as Force India's test driver.
With just two seats (Williams and HRT) still vacant, the 2012 championship is already shaping up before the new year has even started.