In the wet paddock of the Istanbul Park, it was clear that F1's grim politics - not the weather - would again be the main talking point of the weekend's events.

The biggest fear, as admitted by the German driver Nick Heidfeld, is that the current teams will carry through their threats to quit the sport, leaving the door open to a grid of unfamiliar names.

"If it's going to be something like formula 3, it would not necessarily be a place you would want to stay," the BMW Sauber driver, out of contract at the end of the season, told reporters.

"The last months have been extreme, and the current situation is that it is impossible to predict what is going to happen. You follow the news more attentively than usual, naturally you have concerns," the 32-year-old is quoted as saying by the SID news agency.

Heidfeld said he wants to keep his job, but stressed that the main motivation is to be involved at the very pinnacle of motor racing.

"We are all here because it is the best series in the world, not because it is called Formula One," he insisted.