Nelson Piquet Jr has been linked to a season two drive at Virgin Racing as Formula E begins its own “silly season”.

With five races run and six remaining, we’re not even halfway through the inaugural Formula E season. Yet it is only a little more than three months until the double-header finale in London, when the first Formula E champion will be crowned. The spring and summer will flash past faster than a fully charged Spark-Renault, and drivers and their managers are already beginning to look at seats for season two.

Making a decision on where to race in the second season of this new sport is no easy task. The sport is taking a monumental step forwards in introducing multiple constructors. The potential ramifications cannot be underestimated.

Presently, teams really consist of a handful of mechanics and engineers, who are trying their best to understand technology designed and built by other parties, and (certainly in the case of the batteries) without the sort of detailed ground-up technical information that they would like.

Next year is open season. Eight of the teams will be building their own powertrains, and although they are bound by a set of regulations (this is a formula series, after all), including power output limitations, the range of solutions is expected to be varied. That means that first season results may not be an accurate indicator of a team’s competitiveness next year. And given that racing drivers always want to be in the fastest car, teams need to convince their drivers that their package will be the best.

There are other factors at play. Constructor teams are permitted to use their current racing drivers to test their season two cars. But with the driver market opening up, there is a risk of drivers taking valuable inside information with them to another team. Until we know what sort of in-season developments are likely to be allowed, it’s hard to say how significant that may be.

Another consideration is – as always – money. Some teams have sizable financial backing that allows them to field a consistent driver line up. Other teams are chasing pennies, which means pay to play positions.

So what are the permutations likely for season two? Well, we’ve heard that Nelson Piquet is eyeing Jaime Alguersuari’s seat at Virgin Racing. While it looks as though China Racing may be one of the stronger constructors for season two, it is thought that the appeal of the high profile brand name and impressive marketing machine behind the British team may be particularly tempting. Too, Virgin is a race-winning team, something that China still aspires to be.

Is Virgin interested? Piquet has proved he has pace. He has proved he has race craft. He’s been a pretty quiet figure but he’s done his talking on track. At the moment, he is ranked fourth in the driver championship with 49 points (and could arguably be even further ahead had Trulli not ended his race in Putrajaya), some way ahead of Alguersuari, who is in eighth place with 26.

Theoretically, if Virgin had the points of Bird and Piquet thus far this season, the team would be second in the team standings and hot on the heels of e.dams-Renault. That’s certainly worth considering behind closed doors.

Elsewhere, Charles Pic has returned to the sport, but not with Andretti. He drove for China in Miami, and we’re told he’ll be there for the rest of the season and is considering staying for season two.

In the Trulli camp, Cerruti has been dropped. Liuzzi signed up for just one race but his speed was particularly impressive. Trulli himself has made no secret of the fact that he’s only driving as a matter of necessity in season one. His ambitions are much greater, and we’d expect to see him step down from cockpit duties in season two. Could Liuzzi be his replacement?

Over at Venturi, Nick Heidfeld told us that he is planning to focus more on Formula E in season two and less on sports cars. Will he remain with the black-liveried team? The same question could be asked about his team mate Stephane Sarrazin, who has proved very quick in testing but not at the races.

This season has been pretty disastrous for both of them so far. Heidfeld and Sarrazin are languishing in P19 and P20, and the team dead last. While e.dams-Renault has notched up 110 points, Venturi is not even yet in double digits.

Still, Venturi is a leader in exactly the sort of powertrains that will be used next season. With their own technology to play with, we could suddenly see a very different sort of team. To keep Heidfeld and Sarrazin, the team first needs to convince them that they can get on top of race set up and strategy. That’s critical, before discussing next year’s package.

Elsewhere, Nico Prost is proving to be the revelation of the series and it seems unlikely he’d move on from the team partly run by his dad. Chandhok has had a difficult time of it with Mahindra, but the might of the Indian manufacturing group will be put behind the race team in season two and they’d be hard to bet against. Daniel Abt is growing into the sport and a move from his father’s team doesn’t look likely either.

(On the subject of ABT, we heard that one of the German team’s engineers had been hired by China Racing. That suggests that strategic moves within the paddock are beginning to occur among the technical staff, as well as the drivers.)

We’d imagine there will be a lot more conjecture and speculation in the coming weeks and months as the constructors get stuck into their development and testing programmes and as drivers jockey for the best possible packages.

Whatever happens, one thing is clear: no one is doubting that there will a second Formula season. Silly season may be a lot of hot air and rumour, but it says a lot for the series that the Chinese whispers are about where drivers may end up, not whether the sport itself will still be here. In just five races, Formula E looks credible, vibrant and planted. Bring on the development wars, and bring on silly season.