Latest F1 news in brief

What happens to Magnussen's career if McLaren axes him?

Button worried about rookie Magnussen's future
Lotus not a big loss for Renault – Abiteboul
F1 engine rules 'completely stupid' – Vettel
Emotions still high as Bianchi fights for life
Bling makes Hamilton 'a bit different' – Lauda
Mercedes gifting title 'bonus' to staff and F1 world
GoPro shares plummet after Schumacher reports

Button worried about rookie Magnussen's future
(GMM) Jenson Button says he is concerned about the future of his rookie teammate Kevin Magnussen, as McLaren continues to delay its decision about 2015.

Seemingly waiting for the negotiations between the Woking team and Fernando Alonso, former world champion and F1's most experienced current driver Button admits he is bemused his future remains so unclear in the dying stages of the season.

Asked if he is annoyed, 34-year-old Button was quoted by the Mirror: "Not anymore. I was annoyed at the last race, but I am more relaxed with it.

"It is getting so close to the end of the season, it is actually getting funny."

Hugely wealthy and with a title, 15 wins and well over 250 career grands prix in his pocket, Button said the situation is much harder for his Danish teammate Magnussen.

"You shouldn't worry about me," he is quoted by the BBC. "I am in a great place in my life right now and whatever happens next year I am happy.

"It's tougher for my teammate," said Button.

"I have been in the sport for a long time. I have won a world title and 15 races but Kevin is in his first season and there is more pressure on him to get a drive. I just hope they (McLaren) make the right decision," he added.

Lotus not a big loss for Renault – Abiteboul
(GMM) Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul insists engine customer Lotus' impending switch to Mercedes for 2015 is no great loss for the French marque.

Struggling Lotus' long-rumored move to industry-leading Mercedes power was finally confirmed in Russia.

It means Renault's list of engine partners in 2015 has dwindled to just three — 'works' team Red Bull, the energy drink company's junior outfit Toro Rosso, and backmarker Caterham.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner, though, is not at all worried.

"I think that as far as Red Bull is concerned, it will make little difference but as far as Renault is concerned, it allows them to focus fully on one solution — on Red Bull Racing," he said.

With a similar view is Abiteboul, the former Caterham team boss who this year returned to Renault to lead the marque's restructuring after its disastrous start to the new V6 era.

When asked about the impending loss of Lotus, the Frenchman told a group of Russian journalists: "I will not go into details, but the bottom line is that the number of customers of Renault Sport corresponds with our chosen business model.

"But it is also true that for specific marketing reasons, we certainly need to grow the number of customers.

"In F1, everything is organized on TV and in the press so that all the attention is focused on the top teams.

"If we had lost one of the strongest teams, it really would be a serious loss. Unfortunately, Lotus is not among the strongest teams, and so when it ceases to be a customer, it will not affect our situation in terms of marketing," Abiteboul insisted.

F1 engine rules 'completely stupid' – Vettel
(GMM) World champion Sebastian Vettel has slammed F1's long-life engine rules.

Already destined to hand over his FIA drivers' crown to a Mercedes driver at the end of the season, Vettel has also headed into the three-week gap before the US grand prix knowing he will sit out qualifying in Austin.

The Red Bull driver has run out of his maximum allocation of five turbo V6 units for 2014, meaning the use of his sixth Renault in Texas will incur a ten-position grid penalty.

He revealed after the Russian grand prix that he will start the Austin race from the pitlane, as it makes little sense to put laps on the new engine on Saturday afternoon only to drop towards the back of the grid anyway.

It is also believed Vettel would have preferred to take the penalty at Sochi, but the team did not take the required parts to Russia.

Having already announced his departure from Red Bull at the end of the season, Vettel sounded frustrated when confirming his spoiled qualifying plans for the US race.

He said those pitlane-start plans will only come to fruition "providing we have the necessary parts" on hand in Austin.

But according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, Vettel is also frustrated by the long-life engine rules.

"The rule is of course completely stupid. People are going to turn on their television and see a driver just standing around with nothing to do.

"Maybe you can suggest a way that I can spend Saturday afternoon in Austin," he added.

Emotions still high as Bianchi fights for life
(GMM) Marussia has been thrown into the spotlight as more information reportedly emerges about Jules Bianchi's tragic Suzuka crash.

Germany's Sport Bild claims an FIA transmission recorded at the time of the Frenchman's incident said: "Bianchi did not slow down under yellow".

The magazine also accuses Marussia of urging Bianchi – who is still fighting for his life in hospital in Japan – to push hard to recover a gap to Caterham's Marcus Ericsson.

Sport Bild's correspondents said the radio messages, not mentioned by race director Charlie Whiting during his media briefing at Sochi last week, were recorded.

The revelations came at the same time as quadruple world champion Alain Prost stepped up his criticism of the governing FIA in the wake of the Bianchi crash.

"It is cars and tracks (that have been improved)," he is quoted by the Telegraph, "and there was only one thing left: it was this fu**ing truck on the track.

"I was furious," the Frenchman reportedly added.

In his Sochi briefing, Whiting denied Felipe Massa's claims that the Brazilian was "screaming" on the radio at the time of Bianchi's crash for the race to be stopped due to worsening conditions.

"That's not true," Whiting insisted, according to Speed Week. "We recorded everything. He (Massa) said once: 'The rain conditions are getting worse'."

Told of Whiting's denial, however, Massa insists he called for the race to be stopped.

"It's the truth," he said. "I screamed and was quite aggressive.

"I'm not sure if he heard what I said, but I said it was unacceptable and too dangerous to drive in such conditions," Massa added.

Sportwoche, an Austrian publication, claims doctors have discussed with Bianchi's parents the prospect of switching off the Marussia driver's life support systems in Japan, such is the apparent extent of his brain injuries.

It is clearly still a time of high emotions in F1 circles.

After a group of smiling drivers photographed themselves enjoying a party aboard their private jet home from Russia, the headline in the Swiss newspaper Blick wondered: "Have they forgotten Bianchi already?"

FIA president Jean Todt has even come under fire for shaking every F1 driver's hand on the Sochi grid except the disgruntled Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso's.

Todt hit back by revealing he actually hugged the Spaniard beforehand.

Spain's AS newspaper quoted FIA spokesman Matteo Bonciani as saying Todt was "devastated" by the Alonso snub claims at a time when their mutual friend Bianchi is in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, Marussia sporting boss Graeme Lowdon is not commenting on rumors Californian Alexander Rossi is the obvious choice when the team returns to a two-car operation in Austin in three weeks.

"Let's use this time to decide what is the best solution," he said. (meaning does Rossi have a big enough checkbook to buy that ride or can he find a poor schleper who is willing to write a bigger check to buy the ride.)

Bling makes Hamilton 'a bit different' – Lauda
(GMM) According to the Kolner Express tabloid, F1 legend Niki Lauda raised an eyebrow in Russia when he spotted Lewis Hamilton's latest accessory — an enormous gold chain.

The championship leader reportedly told his Mercedes boss: "It's all gold and weighs a kilogram!" Express claims the jewelry cost Hamilton EUR 45,000.

Lauda said: "We have one normal driver, and one who is a bit different."

Elsewhere in the F1 press early this week, a Finnish journalist has hit back at Spanish reports that claim Kimi Raikkonen ran amok after drinking too much during his flight from Tokyo to Moscow after the recent Japanese grand prix.

But Oskari Saari, a commentator for Finland's MTV3, said the Spanish newspaper did not even get the details of the flight correct, as Raikkonen had actually travelled from Nagoya to Helsinki after the race in Japan.

Saari said he knows because he was also on the plane.

"He (Raikkonen) sat down and went to sleep, and I don't remember him waking up even once," he insisted.

Mercedes gifting title 'bonus' to staff and F1 world
(GMM) All 700 staff members at Mercedes' Brackley headquarters will bank a tasty bonus as a reward for securing the constructors' world championship in Russia, British newspapers report.

The reports say the bonus is a minimum of 10,000 British pounds, or $16,000, which altogether will cost the German marque over $11 million — not including any higher bonuses due to upper management or the drivers.

But Mercedes can afford it, given that the team is expected to take home over $60 million in official F1 prize-money for topping the title charts in 2014.

The news about bonuses emerged after bosses Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda spoke to their employees at Mercedes' Brackley headquarters on Monday.

And the team's gift to the F1 world more widely could be the lifting of any instructions to drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg over the remaining three races of the season in Austin, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

That is because Red Bull's Christian Horner has conceded that Daniel Ricciardo's already slim hopes of beating either silver-clad driver to the drivers' title is now even mathematically almost impossible.

"If you look at the points," agreed Wolff, "we have made a massive step toward the drivers' title because we are 92 points ahead of Ricciardo with 100 left.

"So we could be coming into a situation which everybody would love of course in being safe to let them race in the way they want to race."

Wolff insisted Hamilton and Rosberg were already free to race, but they had been slightly reigned in after their clash at Spa four grands prix ago.

"There is still this invisible little leash," he admitted, "and maybe we can get rid of it completely."

GoPro shares plummet after Schumacher reports
(GMM) A French journalist has played down reports he said a helmet-mounted 'GoPro' camera was to blame for F1 legend Michael Schumacher's brain damage.

A few days ago, Jean-Louis Moncet reportedly told Europe 1 radio that he recently met with Schumacher's 15-year-old son Mick, who was with his father when the seven time world champion fell whilst skiing last December.

"The problem for Michael was not the hit, but the mounting of the GoPro that he had on his helmet that injured his brain," he was quoted as saying.

GoPro is a popular and highly successful American brand of high-definition, lightweight video camera often used in action sports.

But after Moncet's comments were widely reported, Reuters said shares in the GoPro company plummeted by as much as 16 per cent.

"We are trying to get more information about the original report from Jean-Louis Moncet," said a GoPro spokesman.

"His tweet this morning suggests the comments didn't come from a family member," he added.

Moncet's tweet read: "Stop all speculation!

"I say I saw Mick Schumacher, I don't say where, I don't say I talk with him or I did an interview with him. Clear?"