Latest F1 news in brief

Russian president Vladimir Putin (R) will attend the Russian GP in a clear act of mockery of Barack Obama's sanctions

Still 'a long road' ahead of Schumacher – Todt
Controversial Putin to attend Russia GP
Show goes on but F1 still thinking of Bianchi
Marussia GP3 withdrawal not linked to Bianchi
Pirelli announces tire choices for final races
Ecclestone calls for inquiry into Bianchi crash
Smedley: Closed cockpits easy to adopt
Force India 'hanging on' in fight for fifth

Still 'a long road' ahead of Schumacher – Todt
(GMM) Michael Schumacher still has "a long and hard road ahead of him," the F1 legend's friend Jean Todt said this week.

On Tuesday, we reported that the FIA president had told the Belgian broadcaster RTL after visiting Schumacher at home that the great German "can live a relatively normal life within a short period of time".

The quote was translated from print reports that appeared on Monday at the specialist Dutch website formule1.nl, and the Dutch-language Belgian newspaper HLN.

Subsequent investigations have revealed that Todt's comments were in fact made to French radio RTL, in which the 68-year-old did sound optimistic about the future of his former Ferrari colleague.

However, it was actually the reporter who had asked Todt if Schumacher will one day live a 'normal life' again, to which the former Ferrari boss answered: "One can only hope."

"We can say he will probably not be able to drive in formula one again.

"He has made progress in recent weeks and months, but there is still a long and hard road ahead of him.

"He needs time and rest. He fights and one can hope that things will improve quickly."

When pressed for details about Schumacher's current condition, including whether the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver can move and speak, Todt insisted: "I do not want to say because it is a very personal matter.

"What is important is that he is alive and his family is around him."

Controversial Putin to attend Russia GP
(GMM) F1 will court further controversy this weekend when Russian president Vladimir Putin oversees the inaugural grand prix at Sochi.

Amid the Ukraine crisis, the MH17 atrocity and tough anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Europe and the US, there had already been calls for formula one to cancel its first race in the country.

But mere days after the Japanese grand prix, F1 is now busily setting up at the new Sochi Autodrom, based around the central venue of the Winter Olympic Games earlier this year.

Having skipped Japan, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone will be at Sochi this weekend, having travelled to the former Soviet state Azerbaijan on Tuesday to unveil the sport's next destination, the 2016 European grand prix at Baku.

As for controversial Russia this weekend, he insisted: "We are happy, the sponsors appear to be happy, so we carry on.

"No one has spoken to me about this race or told me that we cannot go," he told The Times. "The sanctions do not affect us and what we are doing is not illegal.

"The Russian people asked us to come here and that is what we are doing. We are putting on a grand prix. This is nothing to do with politics. As I have always said, we do not do politics.

"We are in Sochi to race," said Ecclestone.

Times correspondent Kevin Eason claims Putin, who is "a close friend" of Ecclestone's, will also be there.

"F1 should reflect on the lack of global support for Putin's behavior in the Ukraine," said Dr Andrew Foxall, director of the Russia Studies Centre at London's Henry Jackson Society think-tank.

"If Putin appears to wave to the crowd, it will be on global television and F1 will forever be blighted by association with an authoritarian regime."

Show goes on but F1 still thinking of Bianchi
(GMM) The teams and drivers may have leapt 8,000 kilometers from Suzuka to Sochi, but Jules Bianchi remains in the minds of the entire F1 world.

As was and is still the case with F1 legend Michael Schumacher, protagonists and pundits are now turning to the opinions of external experts to know more about the predicament the talented 25-year-old Frenchman finds himself in.

His family late on Tuesday confirmed that Bianchi suffered a "diffuse axonal injury" when he hit a recovery vehicle during the wet Japanese grand prix on Sunday.

"I hope they understand how grateful we are for their courage in talking to us through a simple, honest press release," former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein wrote in his blog.

Hartstein has been a critic of the manner in which Schumacher's family and management have kept his legions of fans essentially in the dark about his brain injury.

Nonetheless, the Bianchi camp's news on Tuesday has triggered a frenzied round of speculation as to what it really means.

The health consultant for French news BFMTV, Alain Ducardonnet, said the fact the family named diffuse axonal injury is "Not what we had hoped for".

"So now we will have this seemingly endless wait for whether these lesions will heal, and especially if they are going to have irreversible consequences," he added.

Some of Bianchi's supporters have taken comfort in the news that Ferrari has dispatched professor Gerard Saillant, an FIA-associated doctor also closely linked with Schumacher and FIA president Jean Todt, to the Mie hospital.

But when asked what he can do for Bianchi, Hartstein told 20minutes.fr: "Nothing.

"I think he is there much more for moral support, because he was also there in 2010 after his (Bianchi's) serious accident in GP2 in Hungary.

"He (Saillant) has not performed surgery for years and his specialty is in spinal injuries," Hartstein added.

Bianchi's situation has also triggered wild reports about the repercussions for formula one, including the need for rule changes and possibly even roof coverings or canopies over the drivers' heads.

Hartstein said: "The fact that Bianchi is still alive shows how safe F1 is today.

"I think formula one has reached an extremely high safety standard. But it is clear that anything can always be better."

Mika Hakkinen, who almost died when he fractured his skull in a crash in Adelaide in 1995, said after Bianchi's accident that covering the cockpits should not be ruled out.

"If it can save lives, we should look at any option that further reduces the risks," the double world champion told Austrian broadcaster Servus TV.

Meanwhile, Speed Week reports that rumors Japanese authorities seized parts of Marussia's equipment before the team could travel to Russia are not true.

However, there remains no information about how the team will tackle this weekend's grand prix at Sochi mere days after the Bianchi crash.

Marussia GP3 withdrawal not linked to Bianchi
(GMM) Marussia says the withdrawal of its GP3 team ahead of this weekend's round in Russia is not connected to Jules Bianchi's fight for life.

At the time of writing, it is still not clear how the similarly Manor-run, Marussia-branded F1 team will tackle this weekend's Sochi round, after Frenchman Bianchi's life-threatening Suzuka crash mere days ago.

But some might have linked Wednesday's news that Marussia Manor Racing GP3 is not racing this weekend in Russia with the Bianchi situation.

In a statement, however, the GP3 team insisted "its non-participation in the Sochi event is for purely commercial reasons and these have not been influenced in any way by events at last weekend's formula one race in Suzuka."

Marussia GP3 added that the freight deadline for Russia was in fact last Thursday, long before Marussia F1 driver Bianchi's crash on Sunday.

Pirelli announces tire choices for final races
Pirelli has revealed its tire compound choices for the United States, Brazil and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

At the Circuit of the Americas, Formula 1's sole tire supplier will be bringing its Soft (Yellow-marked) and Medium (White-marked) compounds, at Interlagos the Medium and Hard (Orange-marked) combination and at the Yas Marina Circuit the Super Soft (Red-marked) and Soft steps.

For this weekend's Russian Grand Prix, the Soft and Medium tire compounds have been selected.

Ecclestone calls for inquiry into Bianchi crash
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has called for an independent inquiry after Jules Bianchi suffered a severe head injury in the Japanese Grand Prix.

His comments come after FIA President Jean Todt allegedly asked Race Director Charlie Whiting for a report as "complete and detailed as possible in order to understand exactly the accident that occurred".

"It is difficult for me to say what happened and it will be for an inquiry to find out exactly what did go on," Ecclestone told British newspaper The Times.

"We have done so much for safety. These days, you see an accident on the track and the driver undoes his safety belt, flips off his steering wheel and jumps out unharmed.

"I have always said that if I was going to have an accident, it would be in a Formula 1 car because they are the safest in the world.

"But things happen and we have to find out the cause. This happened to a young man who is very close to us all and that has caused a terrible shock for everyone. Our thoughts are with him and his family."

Canopies on F1 cars will be very easy to implement says Smedley

Smedley: Closed cockpits easy to adopt
Closed cockpits would be "very easy to implement", Williams Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley has said.

Following Jules Bianchi's serious accident in the Japanese Grand Prix, the question of safety has again been brought to the forefront and while Smedley was not sure to what extent – if any – a closed cockpit would have helped in this case, he added it is something that is still being explored.

"From a technical point of view closed cockpits is something that is very easy to implement," he said.

"It would change the look of Formula 1 cars, which I guess there is an aesthetic argument for. They are open-wheel, open-cockpit racing cars.

"But I think if you look at how a Formula 1 car looks in 2014 compared to how it looks in 1950 when the championship started, they do not look very similar. So, whether or not the aesthetics is an argument or not… certainly not one for me.

"It is something that we have looked at a lot in the Technical Working Group meetings. It is something that has all come about from 2009 when Felipe [Massa] had his accident [in Hungary]. We have been back and forward with it. It is not a closed discussion."

Smedley also rejected suggestions that visibility might be a problem, particularly when it rains.

"There are cars that do the Le Mans 24 Hours in the dark and I have been to quite a few races there where it has rained quite heavily," he added.

"I am sure the very clever people who design those cars have got round that problem. I do not think that is a strong argument."

Force India 'hanging on' in fight for fifth
Force India team boss Vijay Mallya says the outfit is "hanging on in there" in the fight for fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Pérez both scored in Japan last weekend, finishing eighth and 10th respectively, but with Jenson Button fifth for McLaren, the gap between the two teams was reduced from six points to just one with four races remaining, including this weekend's inaugural Russian Grand Prix.

"We are hanging on in there and we know we face a big task in the final four races to maintain this advantage," Mallya stated.

"We are certainly motivated and will do all we can to add performance to the car and score points.

"In Formula 1, anything can happen – we have seen it over and over again – and with double points on offer in Abu Dhabi there is all to play for."

Mallya added that the race in Sochi this weekend is "important" for his team and the sport as a whole.

"Russia is an emerging market for Formula 1 and it is big enough and important enough for everyone in the sport to look forward to going there," he continued.

"These huge markets are the kinds of places that we should be concentrating on, which is why I continue to push for India to be back on the calendar as well.

"We need to embrace these huge audiences where there is great potential to increase the popularity of our sport."