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The Marussia team has made it clear that there will be no further news on Jules Bianchi until the timing is deemed appropriate by his family.

The full statement from the team reads: “Following the accident involving Jules Bianchi during yesterday’s 2014 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, the Marussia F1 Team would like to acknowledge the huge outpouring of support and affection for Jules and the Team at this very difficult time.

“With regard to the communication of information concerning Jules’ medical condition, we will respect, and be guided by, the wishes of the Bianchi family. Together with Jules’ care, they will remain our highest priority. Therefore, we would ask for patience and understanding with regard to further medical updates, which will be communicated in conjunction with the Mie General Medical Center in Yokkaichi, where Jules is being treated, when they feel it is appropriate.

“Representatives of the Marussia F1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari will remain at the hospital to support Jules and the Bianchi family.”

The FIA has confirmed that Jules Bianchi suffered a ‘severe head injury’ in today’s accident in the Japanese GP, and is undergoing surgery.

The Frenchman spun sideways into a recovery truck that was moving Adrian Sutil’s crashed Sauber. The car went partially under the vehicle, and its roll hoop structure was damaged.

An FIA statement said: “The driver was removed from the car, taken to the circuit medical centre and then by ambulance to Mie General Hospital.

“The CT scan shows that he has suffered a severe head injury and he is currently undergoing surgery. Following this he will be moved to intensive care where he will be monitored.

“Mie General Hospital will issue an update as soon as further information becomes available.”

Fernando Alonso insists that he is still in control of his own destiny, despite Sebastian Vettel’s expected move to Ferrari and Daniil Kvyat’s transfer to Red Bull.

The driver market had been waiting for a move from Alonso, but his serious options now appear to be limited to McLaren, with Red Bull now full and both Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton insisting that their partnership will continue.

“Today was a surprise for me, Vettel leaving Red Bull,” he said on Saturday. “Everyone was waiting for some kind of announcement on my side, and the first one to move chairs was Sebastian. On my side as I’ve said my priority is to help Ferrari, we are in the middle of a weekend first of all, and secondly my future – let’s say I’ve had my mind set already for two or three months, everything is moving in the right direction, but I’m still not 100% decided what to do.

“I have that privilege that I’m probably the decision maker in some of the aspects. I gained this respect in the last couple of years, and I can go more or less wherever I want to go, in the time I want to go. And that I will use in the best way.”

Alonso said that the Red Bull door closing was not an issue.

“Red Bull was never a priority, so it’s not a big worry at the moment. I know what I want to do, and I will tell you soon.

Asked if he could still be Vettel’s team mate at Ferrari he said: “Anything’s a possibility. I don’t know if he’s going to Ferrari, I know he’s leaving Red Bull. Let’s see. At the moment the first priority for me is ti help the team in this race, my future and the future of Sebastian is not a priority.

“My plan is going well, it’s moving in the right direction.”

Ron Dennis insists that McLaren has not signed any contracts with drivers for 2015 and beyond, despite the obvious speculation about Fernando Alonso.

“We do not have a contract with any driver at this moment in time,” said Dennis. “It isn’t priority. Of course, we talk, we do all the things that you expect us to do, but at this moment we don’t have contracts – strictly, we do not have contracts that we have activated [for 2015], because clearly we have driver contracts at the moment.

“It’s not a great position to be in if you are either Jenson or Kevin. But the reality is they understand, as challenging as it is for them, that our priority is to produce a winning a car with which they can win.”

Elaborating on the situation he said: “The answer is simple – we don’t have a contract with any driver for next year, and that’s a simple factual statement. The first thing we’ve got to be is massively attractive to all drivers, and I hope we’re still very attractive to the two that are currently and will more than likely be driving the cars next year.”

Meanwhile McLaren racing director Eric Boullier backed up the views of his boss.

“We are working on being a winning team as soon as we can, as early as we can,” said the Frenchman. “Obviously there are a lot of different priorities and where we have to work hard. Today no drivers have a contract with us, so that’s why we don’t do any announcement.”

Asked whether he would like to sign Alonso he said: “If he does fit our strategy for the future, yes of course – as much as I want to sign these two guys next to me [Button and Magnussen].”

RBR boss Christian Horner says that the team did not want to stand in Sebastian Vettel’s way once it became clear that the German wanted to go elsewhere.

Vettel is in any case believed to have had an escape clause which was triggered if he was not in the top three in the World Championship as of September 30, and it’s been clear for some time that he would not achieve that target.

“I think it’s more about relationships than what’s on a piece of paper,” said Horner when asked by this writer. “We’ve enjoyed a relationship that hasn’t been based on what’s written on a piece of paper, and when somebody’s heart not in a relationship you have to let them go, so it’s a far healthier situation.

“I’ve known him long enough and well enough to know there’s been something on his mind the last few weeks, but he was very honest, very open, very emotional, but he makes his own decisions, and this was very much his own decision.”

Horner insisted that Vettel had not been encouraged into leaving by the team’s troubles this year, and by the future scaling back of Adrian Newey’s involvement.

“I don’t think that they were really factors. I think the lure of another team that’s brightly coloured has come up, and at a point in his life and career that he’s felt is right for him. We obviously respect that decision, and rather than looking to hold a driver against his will it’s better to reflect on the good times and look forward. Sebastian will have all all his own reasons, so I’m sure in the fullness of time, he’ll inform you.

“This was always going to happen at some point. It’s happened today, it’s time to look forward. Of course it was sad when he expressed what his desire was for next year. We’ve enjoyed such a wonderful relationship together, all those victories, World Championships, great times on track and off track, it’s right to wish him the best of luck in his new venture. It would be wrong to have a driver in the team whose heart was not 100% here.”

Ron Dennis made it clear today that he believes that McLaren has been at a disadvantage relative to the Mercedes works team this year.

Dennis said that McLaren has not had the chance to use the new power unit to its full advantage because of a lack of access to data, and even hinted that the team had not had “the best engines.”

His words made it pretty clear that the team’s 20-season partnership with Mercedes is under strain as it edges towards its conclusion.

Ron was commenting on why McLaren has put itself in the position of being Honda’s works team in 2015.

“One thing that jumps you if you look at all of the qualifications of all of this year is the time difference between the Mercedes-Benz works team and the other teams,” said Dennis. “By and large it’s always in excess of a second, putting aside the pace which they can generate in a Grand Prix when they’re on the back foot.

“What that means is that in my opinion, an opinion held by many people in our organisation, is that you have no chance of winning a World Championship if you are not receiving the best engines from whoever is manufacturing your engines.

“A modern Grand Prix engine in this moment in time is not just about sheer power, it’s about how you harvest the energy, it’s about how you store the energy, and effectively if you don’t have control of that process – meaning access to source code – then you are not going to be able to stabilise your car in the entry to corners, etc, and you lose lots of lap time.

“So even though you have the same brand of engine that does not mean you have the ability to optimise the engine. So you’ve got to start by putting yourself in a position where you have the best engine available. That’s what we’ve done for the approaching years. We had a great partnership with Mercedes, but we intend to hit the ground running with Honda.”

When asked by this writer to respond to Ron’s comments Toto Wolff said: “There are the same engines in every car out there, and you see quite some difference between customers. Of course as a power unit manufacturer and chassis manufacturer you have certain advantages on integration, and that comes down to mechanical balance, centre of gravity, etc.

“I wouldn’t even want to use the terminology ‘source code,’ because it doesn’t make any sense. They have been our most valuable customer in the past, and a great team, and they are switching to a competitor in Honda, and obviously we are pretty aware of that.”

Sebastian Vettel says he’s not running away from a difficult season at Red Bull – and has left the team simply because he wants a new challenge.

Vettel told team boss Christian Horner on Friday night that he wanted to leave the team for what is believed to be a future at Ferrari. It’s understood that a contractual escape clause was triggered because he was not in the top three in the championship as of September 30.

“It’s a tough step obviously such a long time together with Red Bull,” he said. “So many fantastic years I did, and I still am enjoying my time there. But at some stage in life you want to do something else, you want to do something new. It’s not the first time I’ve been approached here or there, and I’ve had the opportunity before to change. Now I think it felt like the right time, that’s why I decided to do something else.”

Vettel insisted that he wasn’t influenced by RBR’s difficult 2014 season.

“That’s obviously the way people look at it, but that’s not the way I see it. I think we had a very, very good time and I still hope we have a very good five races this year. I’m not leaving because I don’t like the team, I’m not leaving because I don’t like individuals, or I don’t like the situation. I’m not running away from anything. But as I said it felt like the right time, the voice inside me, the hinger to do something new, was bigger, even though it’s not the easiest decision, the easiest consequences to deal with.”

Vettel would not admit that he is going to Ferrari: “I don’t have anything I can confirm now, I think we have to wait a little bit longer. Not much longer, but for now I can’t say much.

“I’m looking forward to a new project, a new step, and obviously the target is no matter where I go to be successful.”

Red Bull has pre-empted any announcement from its rivals by stating that Sebastian Vettel is leaving RBR – and will be replaced by Daniil Kvyat in 2015.

It’s assumed that Ferrari will shortly announce that the German is joining in 2015. Meanwhile the Kvyat news puts a stop to Fernando Alonso’s hopes of moving to RBR.

Vettel told Red Bull late on Friday night that he wanted to leave, and Kvyat was told first thing Saturday morning,

“I spoke to Seb, I guess it was about 10pm last night. He sat down with myself and Helmut, and obviously spoke with Dietrich. He said he felt the time had come to take on a new challenge. Obviously it was an emotional moment for him, for everyone. He’s been with Red Bull for 15 years, we’ve achieved so much together. He’d taken quite a lot of time to consider his decision. At the end of the day Sebastian’s his own man, he’s made his own decision.”

It could be a little soggy at Suzuka on Sunday…

Official F1 weather service Ubimet now anticipates that the worst of Typhoon Phanfone will hit the Suzuka area in the early hours of Monday morning – but says that the race will still be affected by heavy rain.

On Monday the last of the F1 equipment will be being packed for shipment to Sochi, and many team members are due to fly to Russia.

Ubimet expects “…the arrival of rainbands, these at times heavy, for Sunday and, with the centre of the typhoon will pass close by on Monday morning with widespread transport disruption, structural damage and possible injuries.

“The rain will largely be persistent – possibly with an occasional drier interlude – but also it will become heavy at times, this more likely after midday. Thus, at the scheduled time by 15:00 local time, a wet race seems to be a likely scenario.

“The expert on-site meteorologists Steffen Dietz and Andy Swan expect the passage of the typhoon centre between the early and the afternoon hours of Monday. ‘Probably Phanfone will pass to the southeast of Suzuka. There are also model solutions that can draw the eye directly on the race circuit. In both cases severe structural damage is expected on Monday, with possible widespread severe damage from the second case.’

Daniel Ricciardo’s Friday at Suzuka was spoiled by a heavy crash in FP2, which the Aussie put down to a mistake.

Ricciardo went off as he accelerated out of the chicane, badly damaging the left hand side of the car when he speared into the tyre wall.

“I just made a mistake,” he said. “I did my first quick lap, and then everyone’s cooling after that, so you do fast, slow and then fast again, the slow lap there was a yellow flag so I did extra slow so that when I started my quick lap so the yellow flag would have been clear and I would have been able to push, so I think the tyres probably cooled too much and out of the chicane I got on the power and had a few moments, and just couldn’t catch it. Not an error I want to make at the beginning of the session, but not really any excuse or any turning back much.”

Ricciardo admitted that given that the race is likely to be wet, he hadn’t lost out much: “It looks like it probably won’t hurt me too much, the long run stuff. Obviously I just missed a time there with the option, but it seems pretty straightforward, we know how the tyre responds, we know there’s about a second between the compounds. Even though I did one lap the lap I did I think we made some changes form P1 to P2, and I definitely felt better off.”

He also said that Mercedes is stronger here than expected.

“Definitely coming into it I was expecting something like Singapore, being within a few tenths off the Mercs, and fighting for the podium. They were really quick today. We think we’re there, and then they pull a gap like this. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, but looking at today we won’t be able to do anything with that in qualifying. Maybe the race will change. Right now in the dry, all going well, we can still be third on the grid.”