Dietrich Mateschitz has drawn a line under speculation linking Lewis Hamilton with Red Bull next year.

Mateschitz, the billionaire owner of the famous energy drink, told Kronen Zeitung newspaper that all the rumours have been “completely false”.

With Mark Webber likely to ink a new deal for 2012, Austrian Mateschitz indicated that any future candidate for a Red Bull seat will be picked from the company’s own talent pool.

“Only when we have no one appropriate from our own pool would we consider one of the guys in question,” he said.

Mateschitz may have also been referring to Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who in the last 24 hours has also been linked with a move to Red Bull.

A source told The Sun: “In some ways his bosses think he is doing a better job than Lewis.”

Button however said his future is not currently on his mind.

“You think I want to sit over a contract for the next three days? This is an important weekend,” the 2009 world champion said at Silverstone.

Red Bull are set to canter to the 2010 world championships, according to Gerhard Berger.

The 10-time grand prix winner, friend and Austrian countryman of the team’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz, said the Adrian Newey-penned RB6 is in a league of its own.

“For some reason, Sundays just don’t work out right for me,” said Sebastian Vettel, after Bild am Sonntag ran an article pointing out how many more points the German youngster should have collected at grands prix so far in 2010.

Said Berger: “They can make many mistakes and still be in front.”

Indeed, Red Bull is currently leading the constructors’ championship from McLaren, while Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber is ahead in the drivers’ chase.

Berger praises the Milton Keynes based team’s technical chief Newey.

“Aerodynamics are now the lifeblood of a F1 car. This is why I see them (Red Bull) being at the front for the next few years,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“I always advised Mateschitz to go for Newey. At first I was a bit nervous because it didn’t immediately work out; I think at the start he (Newey) was too distracted with management matters.

“Since he has concentrated on his specialty, he has shown he is in a class of one,” added Berger.

As Red Bull drew a line under the matter on Thursday, former FIA president Max Mosley waded into the debate about the collision between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Turkey.

After a meeting in Milton-Keynes on Thursday, the team issued a statement that included a jovial photo of the teammates with the caption ‘Shit happens’.

“I’m sorry for the team that we lost the lead of the race.  Mark and I are racers and we were racing,” German Vettel, 22, is quoted as saying.

With the blame-game apparently put to bed, Mosley however told the German newspaper Die Welt that he thinks the crash was Australian Webber’s fault.

Interestingly, 70-year-old Briton Mosley is a close friend and former F1 ally of Red Bull’s Austrian billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Dr Helmut Marko, also Austrian and Mateschitz’s right-hand man on motor racing matters, also initially blamed Webber for the lap-40 shunt at Istanbul Park.

“From my perspective,” said former long-time FIA president Mosley, “I do not think that Sebastian Vettel should receive the blame for the collision.”

Mosley added: “At the time of the accident Vettel was clearly faster than Webber.  At this stage he (Vettel) had the right and the duty to overtake.”

Red Bull has revealed that Webber was running a fuel-saving engine setting while Vettel was not, and that the Australian radioed the pits to ask the McLaren-pressured Vettel to drop back.

Moreover, the team claims Webber’s race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam failed to pass on a radio message warning the 33-year-old not to repel an attack by Vettel, whose tyres were reportedly also in better shape than Webber’s.

Marko aside, most of the F1 world said it was Vettel who aggressively turned right whilst alongside the sister RB6 driven by Webber.

“I do not agree,” said Mosley, strongly siding with Marko, who along with team boss Christian Horner also attended Thursday’s clear-the-air meeting.

Said Mosley: “It can be clearly seen that Vettel had already passed Webber before the collision, and at that time Webber should have given him more space — especially as they were already on the far left side of the track.

“Now you could argue (about the blame) if it had not been Webber’s teammate, but as it was, he (Webber) should have respected his responsibility to the team.

“Remember, both cars were doing almost 300kph, so considering the risk, he (Webber) should have taken a chance to improve his position at another point in the race.”

When told by the Welt interviewer that the same rationale also applies to Vettel, Mosley answered: “The crucial point speaks for Vettel and against Webber — that one driver in this moment was fast, while the other was slow.”

Mosley, who speaks fluent German, also said he does not believe Red Bull’s apparent desire to see Vettel ahead of Webber amounts to illegal team orders.

“I cannot see that,” said the Briton.  “Vettel was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton, he was faster than Webber, and to shake off the McLaren he needed to pass the slower Webber.

“Even if this situation was declared to the drivers by radio, this would not be a team order or a manipulation of the drivers’ championship, but rather an explanation of a particular situation — (it is) necessary information for the drivers.”

Comparing the situation to Ferrari’s infamous place-swapping in Austria in 2002, Mosley said “one was a conscious manipulation of the world championship, the other is the legitimate explanation of a racing situation.”

(GMM)

Vijay Mallya and Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday indicated they do not believe Karun Chandhok is a first-class formula one driver.

In a joint interview published by F1′s official website, the pair admitted the desire to see a top Indian driver on the grid.

Mallya, the Indian billionaire owner and boss of the Force India team, currently fields a German-Italian driver combination, with Scot Paul di Resta as the Friday test driver.

Asked if it is important to eventually have an Indian at the wheel, he answered: “It is very important.  I would love it.  I’m not a fool and can see the enormous publicity potential which would come from it.

“The downside at the moment is that there is not one Indian pilot who has the potential to battle the best on the track,” added Mallya.

26-year-old Chennai-born Chandhok debuted in 2010 for the struggling new Spanish team HRT, and on Thursday he toured the site of next year’s F1 race in Delhi.

The Indian GP project is strongly backed by Ecclestone, who is openly pushing to tap the impressive new markets like India’s.

But although Chandhok was strongly supported by family friend Ecclestone for the seat, the F1 chief executive also seemed to indicate that an Indian is not yet ready to be on the pace.

And the 79-year-old said a struggling Indian at Force India “would be extremely negative”.

“In this case Vijay would have achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted to.  To choose an Indian driver who just runs after all the others is no use to anybody.  It would be counterproductive,” added the Briton.

(GMM)