Latest F1 news in brief

Vergne driving to save his ride

F1 security unprecedented for Putin visit
Next Russian GP to be night race – report
F1 eyeing driver speed limit for yellow flags
Total exit not end of Lotus career – Grosjean
Vergne could keep Toro Rosso seat – Tost
'Growing concerns' about Bianchi's condition – reports
Mateschitz says Red Bull 'doesn't need' Vettel
Schumacher 'waking up slowly' at home – Moncet
Rivals pressure Mercedes to agree engine 'unfreeze'
Hamilton: Drivers aware of the risks

F1 security unprecedented for Putin visit
(GMM) Unprecedented security at a grand prix will accompany Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to the inaugural race on Sunday.

F1's regular television broadcasters have been told that when Putin's security personnel scramble radio frequencies to prevent potential bombs being triggered, live video images and microphones will possibly go dead temporarily.

And the Daily Mail also claims that "radar guarding" against airborne threats could cause television interference, while TV crews have been told not to film Putin or the visiting king of Bahrain too closely.

Amid the controversial Ukraine conflict, security is also noticeably high in other areas at the new Sochi Autodrom, including the presence of armed guards and airport-style checks.

The German newspaper Bild has more details.

It claims then when Putin is scheduled to visit the building opposite the grandstand, windows will be obscured to thwart any potential assassins.

The report also said the F1 teams' and FIA's radio systems will be affected by the anti-bomb frequency scramble, which could last up to 15 minutes.

And Bild said that security will be so tight when Putin is on the grid that regular 'grid walking' broadcasters may be unable to complete their normal duties.

Next Russian GP to be night race – report
(GMM) The next Russian grand prix could be a night race.

According to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, new F1 venue Sochi Autodrom's contract with Bernie Ecclestone is for at least seven years.

On Sunday for the inaugural race, the start-time is at 3pm local.

But next year it could be much later.

"We want to start at dusk and finish in the dark," the newspaper quoted boss Richard Cregan as saying.

"The infrastructure for the lighting is already present, we are now waiting for the green light," he added.

Bernie Ecclestone is said to have already basically agreed to the proposal.

F1 eyeing driver speed limit for yellow flags
(GMM) F1 is considering a couple of rule changes in response to Jules Bianchi's serious crash at Suzuka last weekend.

The most significant is that, when double yellow flags are being waved, drivers may have their pitlane speed limiters automatically triggered.

It would have the twofold benefit of not only preventing the sort of accident that sent Bianchi off the track, but ensuring that every driver is equally disadvantaged by caution zones.

"There were some (drivers) that didn't slow down much," said the FIA's Charlie Whiting at Sochi on Friday when he spoke to reporters about Bianchi's crash.

"One of the most important things to learn is that it is probably better to take the decision to slow down away from the drivers," he added.

F1 teams have also been briefed about the FIA's proposals, another of which could be the fitting of safety skirts around recovery vehicles.

Reporters, who were asked to turn off their camera phones, were also shown official video replays of Bianchi's crash.

"We have to learn from what happened," said FIA president Jean Todt, whose son Nicolas is Bianchi's manager.

"And we will, because we cannot be faced with such a situation again."

But Whiting played down suggestions one solution to the problem could be fighter jet-style cockpit canopies.

"It's very difficult to find something that is strong enough to stop an errant wheel and allows the driver to drive the car without being affected by the structure," he insisted.

He said any new safety measures would probably not be introduced until 2015, but the drivers may have been told something different.

"I know that this weekend the FIA is taking every possible precaution," Bianchi's closest friend in F1, Jean-Eric Vergne, is quoted by France's L'Equipe at Sochi.

"Each time a car stops at the side of the track and there are marshals working there, the safety car will come out.

"There will be zero risk until they have found solutions for the sport," he added.

Meanwhile, Whiting denied Felipe Massa's claim of last Sunday that he "screamed" on the radio for the race to be stopped just before Bianchi's crash.

Total exit not end of Lotus career – Grosjean
(GMM) Romain Grosjean has denied that Lotus' new Mercedes engine deal makes it less likely he will stay with the Enstone team beyond 2014.

On the face of it, the struggling team's switch from an underpowered Renault 'power unit' is good news for Lotus' frustrated drivers.

"It will help Lotus," Grosjean agreed at Sochi.

"I am sure that next year the team will be more competitive. The option of (staying with) Lotus has become quite attractive."

But tucked away in Lotus' press release about the Mercedes deal was the detail that the team will be using Petronas oils and fuels next year.

Currently, Grosjean is closely aligned with the Renault-linked French oil company Total.

"They (Total) understand the situation," the Frenchman insisted. "There are negotiations.

"Our relationship with Total is much closer than just a sponsor. We have been together and we want to continue.

"If the car is not running on Total fuel, that does not mean the company will stop supporting me," Grosjean explained.

Vergne could keep Toro Rosso seat – Tost
(GMM) Jean-Eric Vergne is back in the running to keep his seat at Toro Rosso in 2015.

In August, the Faenza based team said the Frenchman would leave at the end of this season as it replaces him with teenage sensation Max Verstappen.

But Verstappen's scheduled 2015 teammate, Daniil Kvyat, has since been called up by Red Bull's main team in the wake of Sebastian Vettel's shock news at Suzuka a week ago.

Immediately, it was said that the latest cream of the energy drink company's junior program, Carlos Sainz Jr, was the favorite to complete Toro Rosso's revised 2015 lineup.

But that would mean Toro Rosso enters the new season with a driver lineup whose combined age of an unprecedented 37, with a dubious tally of zero combined career grands prix.

Asked at Sochi if Sainz is still the frontrunner, team boss Franz Tost said: "There are also other drivers.

"We have Jean-Eric Vergne, who is an experienced driver.

"We have Carlos Sainz Jr who is currently leading the 3.5 Renault championship, then we have Pierre Gasly (and) we have (Alex) Lynn.

"Fortunately Red Bull has a lot of very fast, highly skilled drivers in the driver pool and within the next weeks, Red Bull will decide who will get this seat," Tost added.

'Growing concerns' about Bianchi's condition – reports
(GMM) At least four major publications believe there are "growing concerns" about the health condition of seriously injured F1 driver Jules Bianchi.

At present, the only official news is that the Frenchman suffered a 'diffuse axonal injury' in his Suzuka crash last Sunday, and now lies in a Japanese hospital in a 'critical but stable' condition.

But the British newspapers the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Times have all now expressed 'growing' fears about Bianchi's condition, particularly after the Marussia driver's siblings and best friend jetted into Japan to be with his parents at his bedside.

"The FIA does not want to give information about Bianchi's health," said the major German daily Bild.

"Bild's information is that his condition is said to have deteriorated."

Jean-Eric Vergne, Bianchi's closest friend on the F1 grid, said at Sochi that the 25-year-old is currently "between life and death" in Japan.

Mateschitz says Red Bull 'doesn't need' Vettel
(GMM) Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz insists he is "not disappointed" to be losing world champion Sebastian Vettel.

A week ago at Suzuka, the German – who was nurtured from boyhood to F1 stardom by the energy drink company – announced to Red Bull and the world that he is leaving the team.

It is expected he will switch to Ferrari for 2015.

But billionaire Mateschitz insisted to the German news agency DPA that, at the moment, Vettel and Red Bull Racing are not compatible.

"Given Red Bull's handicap with the current (Renault) power unit and Mercedes' dominance," he said, "you don't need a four-time world champion who at best can be 'best of the rest'."

And according to Mateschitz, the promise shown by Vettel's successor, 20-year-old Daniil Kvyat, is another reason Red Bull is happily letting its champion go.

"We considered it neither just nor necessary to intervene," he said, "particularly since this switch brings huge financial savings.

"I also believe that the forthcoming switches will contribute a lot to the excitement of the next formula one season," Mateschitz added.

Schumacher 'waking up slowly' at home – Moncet
(GMM) Ten months after his skiing fall, Michael Schumacher is now "waking up very slowly" from his serious brain injuries.

That is the claim of the respected French F1 commentator Jean-Louis Moncet, who told Europe 1 radio he recently spoke about the seven time world champion's condition with Schumacher's kart-racing son Mick.

"I saw his son and he told me that Schumi is waking up very slowly; very slowly," said Moncet.

Recently, Schumacher left a rehabilitation clinic in Switzerland and returned home to his estate on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Moncet continued: "Although things are going at a slow pace, he (Schumacher) has a lot of time, I would say his whole life in front of him to get back on track."

Moncet, 69, also revealed more information about the way Schumacher was injured when he fell and struck a rock whilst skiing with Mick in France last late December.

"The problem for Michael was not the hit, but the mounting of the Go-Pro (camera) that he had on his helmet that injured his brain," he said.

Rivals pressure Mercedes to agree engine 'unfreeze'
(GMM) Rivals are piling pressure on Mercedes to agree to "unfreeze" engine development in formula one.

The German marque has utterly dominated the sport this year as the all-new turbo V6 era dawned.

So rivals, powered by struggling Ferrari and Renault, have argued that the strict limits on in-season development of the 'power units' should be relaxed.

For a rule change as soon as 2015, however, all teams would have to agree.

Christian Horner, boss of the works Renault team Red Bull, claimed in Russia on Friday that, in Singapore last month, Mercedes agreed to some 'unfreeze' measures.

"One minute we agree something," he said, "then suddenly people can't remember what they've agreed and they change their mind, so we've got a bit going on at the moment."

Indeed, since Mercedes allegedly 'changed its mind', F1's influential 'strategy group' got together and the majority voted for the engine unfreeze to be sent to the F1 Commission for ratification.

"We'll see what the outcome of the commission vote is," said Horner.

"FIA are in support, FOM are in support, obviously the non-Mercedes teams are in support, so we'll see what that holds in approximately a month's time."

Horner admitted, however, that for the change to be voted through for 2015, every team will need to agree.

"I agree with Christian," said Marco Mattiacci, boss of F1's other engine supplier, Ferrari.

"Now today we have the majority of the votes to move ahead on the idea to unfreeze the engine. Let's see what's going to happen during the F1 Commission," he added.

Hamilton: Drivers aware of the risks
Lewis Hamilton says danger is inherently part of motorsport as he learnt a young age when a fellow karter died.

Formula 1 is dealing with the aftermath of last Sunday's terrible accident at the Japanese GP that has left Jules Bianchi fighting for his life.

The Frenchman remains in a critical condition having suffered a diffused axonal injury when he hit a tractor after sliding off the track.

And while the FIA and the teams are looking for ways to ensure that such an accident never again happens, Hamilton admits that danger is part of racing and that all the drivers are well aware of that.

"As racing drivers, we are never under any illusion about the risks that we are taking. We are travelling at serious speeds and this is a serious business," he wrote in his latest BBC column.

"I am aware of the dangers that come along with my job. But I don't get in the car fearing it because that wouldn't work. You can't go into a corner thinking "if I brake too late, this could happen" or "the brakes could fail" or whatever.

"You have to be strong in your mind and believe in only positive things. But whenever you get in the car you accept all sorts of things that can happen.

"When I was nine years old, I saw a young driver die when I was racing in karts. A good friend of mine who was a good friend of his stopped racing, but that has never been something that has entered my mind.

"That was a very traumatic time for me as a kid. Even now, I can remember standing on the bank beside a track with him with our suits on just before a race, all laughing and joking. And then the next thing I knew I was at his funeral. It was the first time I had ever been to one.

"It is very hard to put that out of my mind at the moment, after what happened to Jules. Things like this really open up your view a bit. Bad things happen to people, but the world keeps going, which is really sad in a way.

"But it does not make me rethink wanting to be a Formula 1 driver.

"I love this sport. It is the thing I do best, the thing I feel most comfortable in, where I feel most me, without any restrictions on what I can do. When I get in the car, I feel free. The exhilaration of racing is something you cannot match anywhere else.

"It is more than a passion. It is our lives."