It will be the storyline that dominates Formula One 2020, perhaps even more so than what happens on the track.
While the annual 'silly season' doesn't usually start in earnest until the middle of the year, it's safe to assume that 'who goes where' will be a hot topic of conversation from the moment the F1 circus arrives in Melbourne next week.
And the biggest question of all revolves around Australia's Daniel Ricciardo. Because the 30-year-old holds the key to where everyone else ends up in 2021.
As Wide World of Sports explored last week, Ricciardo's next contract will be career-defining. But with just two of the top six seats locked away for 2021, the grid could be in a shake-up.
Already Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari are signed to long-term deals. But the identity of their respective teammates, as well as the two Mercedes drivers, remains up in the air.
Most observers expect Lewis Hamilton to wrap up a seventh world title later this year. Around the time of the F1 summer break, he'll probably ink a new deal with Mercedes, who need him as much as he needs them. Mercedes want to keep winning and Hamilton is unlikely to be keen to share a team with either Verstappen or Leclerc, leaving both sides with little option but to continue their partnership.
If Ricciardo chooses to leave Renault, it would only be to join either Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull (again). The Hamilton-Valtteri Bottas pairing at Mercedes exists in relative harmony, so as long as performances are satisfactory that option might be closed off to Ricciardo. And following his shock decision to leave Red Bull at the end of 2018, it's hard to imagine the welcome mat being rolled out for the Australian at Milton Keynes either.
Which leaves Ferrari. In 2019, the Leclerc-Sebastian Vettel relationship crumbled quicker than a sandcastle in the face of a rising tide, making a change for next season more likely than not.
It also gives Ricciardo the chance to right a wrong that has lingered for more than 40 years. Because no Australian has ever driven for Ferrari, despite Alan Jones signing a contract with the Scuderia in 1977.
As he recounted in his book AJ: How Alan Jones Climbed to the Top of Formula One, Jones - then with the tiny Shadow team - was flown to Milan to meet Enzo Ferrari, with a view to replacing Niki Lauda for the 1978 season.
"At the factory I was met by Piero Lardi, who I didn't realise then was Ferrari's illegitimate son," Jones wrote.
"He was driving a little Fiat so I just thought he was some s---kicker from the factory there to entertain me for a bit.
Jones went on to describe his 10-minute meeting with "The Old Man", as Ferrari was known.
"He was sitting behind his desk with all the mementos on the wall, and dramatically lit, like a movie.
"To me, he was this god-like figure known as Enzo Ferrari.
"My first impression was how very pale he looked. 'He's dead,' I thought. 'They've propped him up and they've got a recording of his voice coming from behind a curtain.'
"If I hadn't known he was Enzo Ferrari, I don't think I would have been greatly impressed."
Jones recounted how he signed a contract with the team, only to be warned Ferrari was also chasing a North American driver to help boost sales in that region. When Mario Andretti later re-signed with Lotus, Jones assumed he had the Ferrari drive.
"A couple of days went by," Jones wrote. "I didn't hear from them, and I started to wonder.
"I eventually rang them to see when I was expected in Italy. The response was sharp. 'Well, you know how we told you we wanted a North American driver? We have signed (Gilles) Villeneuve'."
"I said, 'Well, what do I do with my contract?'
"I think the response was as clear as, 'I'd stuff it up your backside'.
"I wish I still had that contract!"
Jones went on to win the world title with Williams in 1980, while Villeneuve was killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. When his teammate Didier Pironi was seriously injured during a crash at the German Grand Prix later that season, Ferrari was on the phone to Jones once again, looking for a replacement driver for the rest of the 1982 season.
Jones, who'd retired from the sport at the end of 1981, wasn't in the mood to help the Scuderia out.
"Very stupidly, in typical fashion, I've deliberately buggerised them around, which I thought would be a bit of fun, because I thought they'd done the same to me in 1977 when they signed Villeneuve and cancelled my contract," Jones wrote.
"I got a mate to answer the calls and spin them out a bit. 'He's just down the butcher's, he'll be back shortly.'
"Because they couldn't get me quickly they signed Mario Andretti, and he stuck the thing on pole at Monza and then made it on the podium.
"If I hadn't have been so stupid I could have milked that dry. I tell you, I would never have paid for anything in Italy ever again. Free spaghetti sauce forever."
Mark Webber also discussed a move to Ferrari alongside Fernando Alonso for the 2013 season, but it never eventuated. An Australian flag has never graced the cockpit of the famous red cars.
Ricciardo, who speaks fluent Italian, would be a perfect teammate for Leclerc. He's a proven race-winner, but not prone to throwing the toys out of the cot when things don't go his way. It would provide the Scuderia with arguably the strongest driver combination on the grid.
And for Australian fans, it would fix an injustice from 43 years ago.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/motorsport/f1-daniel-ricciardo-ferrari-alan-jones/e28baf10-a983-4212-877d-87e8cd9e5096
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