Other than the goings on at Brackley, the back-to-back long-haul events in North America have resulted in a dearth of real news, as is often the case. Though last year's shenanigans at Indianapolis gave Pitpass, along with many other F1 websites, an unprecedented amount of traffic - which is more than can be said of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With so little real news, the media is either having to re-hash old news, cherry-pick press releases, or resort to that old chestnut, 'who goes where next season', which this year has taken on a new dimension as everyone speculates on possible engine deals and even the employment prospects for various technical directors.

Other than another fiasco at Indianapolis, usually precipitated by an accident involving Ralf Schumacher, we should not expect any significant announcements over the next ten days, unless Dan Gurney and Phil hill have finally got their All-American F1 Team off the ground.

Last week Pitpass speculated that Michael Schumacher will not wait until September (Monza) before making his decision as to whether he will remain in F1. We stand by our claim that the decision will be made by the end of this month, June. That said, we expect the announcement could be held over until the weekend of the French Grand Prix, providing things go in Renault's favour. The French outfit is hoping that the German will remain with Ferrari in 2007, possibly beyond, which will clear the way for Kimi Raikkonen to join Giancarlo Fisichella.

Despite claims elsewhere, we understand that money is not a problem, and that the French outfit has matched Ferrari's offer euro for euro. All that stands in the way of the Kimi-Renault deal is the contract which the Finn has with Ferrari should Michael not retire. Once the German makes his decision, Kimi will know his destination in 2007 and the merry-go-round will begin.

There has been speculation as to how Renault might finance the deal, especially in light of the fact that Flavio Briatore proudly boasts that the French outfit is not the biggest spender in the pitlane, far from it.

We hear that a number of high profile sponsors are looking at Renault, though the deals are largely dependent on whether or not Kimi is in one of the yellow and blue cars next season.

We say yellow and blue, whereas blue is merely Mild Seven's corporate colour, which means we could well see the French team revert to its traditional yellow livery, with a splash of white, and maybe black, here and there.

There will be continued speculation over the next few days as to what engines Red Bull, Toro Rosso, WilliamsF1 and Midland will use in 2007, just as there will be thousands of words dedicated to the destination of messrs Coulthard, Montoya, Klien, Hamilton and Kovalainen.

We might even hear further talk as to whether BMW will retain the services of the 'artist formerly known as World Champion' or give Robert Kubica his F1 race debut.

However, don't expect anything really significant until the 'circus' returns to Europe.

Note: We wish we could claim the 'artist formerly known as...' line, but in all honesty we can't. It was the creation of a Pitpass forum user, 'Bowman'. Plaudits and vitriolic e-mails to him please.