Latest F1 news in brief

'No intention to sell' to Red Bull – Renault
McLaren 'needs a change' with Honda – Button
Vettel could chase 'fast car' to Ferrari – Ecclestone
Ecclestone tells struggling Caterham to 'stop'
Pirelli raises concerns over grid restarts
Witness gives Ecclestone good day in court

'No intention to sell' to Red Bull – Renault
(GMM) F1 engine supplier Renault has denied it is being bought out by disgruntled partner Red Bull.

Team boss Christian Horner is back on the offensive this week, insisting the French marque even had years of warning about its now-struggling turbo V6 project.

"We sat down with Renault to express our concerns about the direction it was going in autumn 2012," he told reporters on Tuesday.

There have been suggestions Red Bull's patience has finally run out, but the lack of alternatives – with F1's only other engine suppliers being arch-rivals Mercedes and Ferrari – is obvious.

"The thing about a team like Red Bull is we always have options, and I'm not going to disclose what they are here," Horner insisted.

Evidently, one of Red Bull's few options is to build its own engine, but the team has played down that likelihood.

But what about simply getting more involved at Renault? There have been rumors the F1 facility at Viry-Chatillon could be sold.

Renault F1 chief Rob White denies it.

"At the moment there is no intention to sell the engine department at Viry. It's still very much a subsidiary of Renault," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

And he said Red Bull taking over Renault would not allow the reigning world champions to simply re-badge the current power unit and dodge the restrictive homologation – or development 'freeze' – that is holding back progress.

"It is not possible to stick another name on the cylinder head and start from scratch. Even Honda can't do exactly as they want," White explained.

Germany's Sport Bild claims that, rather than buying Viry, Red Bull will simply get more involved with Renault's engine project, upping its budget and forcing a restructuring.

To this end, it is believed current Caterham boss Cyril Abiteboul is returning to Renault to lead the revamp.

The focus, it seems, is to follow Mercedes' lead in specifically adapting the engine to a single, works chassis, rather than trying to make it work for every customer.

"You are never going to be able to satisfy everybody," Horner said on Tuesday.

"Renault has tried to keep all of their customers happy, which is an admirable thing to do, but it's not the best way to be competitive."

With that change looming at Renault, it is no surprise the currently Renault-powered Lotus is on the move.

It will mean every 2015 Renault customer has close links to the 'works' team Red Bull — sister team Toro Rosso, and the user of the entire Red Bull rear end, Caterham.

McLaren 'needs a change' with Honda – Button
(GMM) Jenson Button insists he is "looking forward to" McLaren's new Honda era.

That is despite team supremo Ron Dennis' warning that the most experienced driver in the paddock actually might not get a new contract beyond 2014.

"Do I want him to try harder?" Dennis told British television Sky. "Of course I do."

But 34-year-old Briton Button, who will wear a pink helmet this weekend in memory of his late father John's ever-present pink shirt, thinks the arrival of Honda for 2015 is what McLaren needs as it emerges from a two-season slump.

"Everyone is looking forward to it," he told Germany's DPA news agency.

"A lot is already going on. Ron is again in charge, Eric (Boullier) is on board now.

"In the past, a lot of things were working well, but sometimes you need a change. I feel we are on the right track," added Button.

Dennis said the arrival this year of rookie Kevin Magnussen had given Button a "wake-up call", and even the British driver admits the young Dane has been impressive.

"Kevin is learning very quickly," said Button. "He did not have much experience when he arrived, but within six months he has made up for a lot of that.

"We are not best friends," Button reveals. "I have never been great friends with a teammate — I have my own friends. But he's a good guy and I like working with him."

However, Button insists Magnussen is not the biggest challenge of his career, instead nominating Lewis Hamilton as his fastest-ever F1 teammate.

"On pace, yes. He (Hamilton) is very fast, but I expected that when I came to the team.

"If you have beaten Lewis, you know you've had a good day," he said.

Vettel could chase 'fast car' to Ferrari – Ecclestone
(GMM) Switching to Ferrari could be a way for Sebastian Vettel to kick-start his F1 career, according to Bernie Ecclestone.

After winning four consecutive world championships, the German has stumbled in 2014.

And it's not just Red Bull's fault, as Vettel has struggled even to keep up with his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who has stunned the entire world of F1 with his form.

But F1 chief executive Ecclestone, famously close to Vettel, thinks that while the 26-year-old has lost none of his talent, he must be casting his eyes around for a better car.

"With the right car Vettel won everything in the past four years," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"And when he has the right car again, he will win more world titles. He is faster than everyone else," added 83-year-old Ecclestone.

Asked if a change of scene could be what Vettel needs, Ecclestone admitted: "If Ferrari can make a fast car again, Maranello would be the place to go.

"He needs to go where the best car is," he added.

Undoubtedly in 2014, the best car is the Mercedes, where Lewis Hamilton must close a 29-point gap to Nico Rosberg for the title.

Ecclestone said Rosberg is indeed the 2014 championship favorite at the wheel of the Silver Arrow, "Because he speaks German".

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is not so sure.

"That (29-point) gap is one race win," he told reporters at Milton Keynes on Tuesday. "One DNF for Nico puts him (Hamilton) right back in it so the gap is almost irrelevant at this stage of the season."

Ecclestone tells struggling Caterham to 'stop'
(GMM) Even amid swirling speculation about Caterham's future, Bernie Ecclestone is unmoved.

He told an Austrian newspaper last week that he would be "happy" if struggling and complaining small teams succumb to their money troubles.

"If you can't afford to be in this game, you should not be here," said the sport's chief executive.

Since then, Caterham founder Tony Fernandes has conceded on Twitter that his F1 project "didn't work", and the team has reportedly been sold along with its reported EUR 20 million in debt.

Still, 83-year-old Ecclestone is unmoved about the small teams' plight.

"They should stop," he told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport. "If they don't have the money, they should close. I am ready for a formula one with eight teams and three cars each.

"Is it better to see a third Ferrari or a Caterham? Ferrari might find new sponsors in America and an American driver. Great."

Ecclestone said a strong Ferrari will help with F1's problems, such as a dwindling television audience, arguing that Caterham will "never" be competitive.

"If Ferrari started to end up first and second in qualifying and races, then television ratings would improve everywhere. Ferrari is a worldwide passion," he said.

Pirelli raises concerns over grid restarts
(GMM) F1 tire supplier Pirelli has raised its concerns about F1's new standing restart rule for 2015.

With the move already controversial among the sport's fans, top drivers have also raised their voices at the prospect of forming up for grid re-starts after safety car periods next year.

"We all pretty much disagreed as far as I am aware," Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, revealing widespread dislike for the innovation among his racing peers, said on Tuesday.

Team bosses have also raised their eyebrows, even though Force India chief Bob Fernley admitted to the Indian news agency PTI this week that the move will "improve the show".

But Paul Hembery, Pirelli's F1 boss, is concerned about the technical impact of forcing cars to come to a halt on the grid mid-race.

"Every time you stop the cars," he is quoted by Italy's Autosprint, "we see a lot of blowers in use.

"It is not only the tires that will lose temperature, but we have cars that easily overheat," Hembery added.

Witness gives Ecclestone good day in court
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone's defense got a boost on Tuesday, as the corruption trial continued in Munich.

If found guilty of having bribed the jailed former F1 banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, the sport's chief executive will certainly lose his job, and probably also be jailed.

But his defense – that Gribkowsky blackmailed him – got a boost on Tuesday.

Central to the prosecution's case is the suggestion that Ecclestone paid Gribkowsky $44 million so that his preferred buyer for F1's commercial rights, CVC, got the green light.

It is alleged that Ecclestone wanted CVC to buy BayernLB's shares, because the Munich state bank holding onto them could endanger his role as F1 supremo.

But a former legal advisor to BayernLB on Tuesday testified in Munich, and the witness denied that the bank ever posed a threat to Ecclestone's job.

"I don't think it ever arose that Ecclestone could be deposed," German media reports quote the unnamed witness as saying.

"I don't even think it would have been possible," the witness reportedly added.