Wolff: Briatore dinner not about Alonso deal

A picture of Briatore dining with Wolff and Niki Lauda posted by the former Benetton and Renault boss on Twitter inevitably set tongues wagging, as did a public meeting for the other member of Alonso's management team – Luis Garcia Abad – with Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul.

Alonso further stoked the flames when he was asked if he had found the Azerbaijan weekend as painful as his McLaren team boss Eric Boullier had, and replied: "So far it has been quite positive. In many ways."

Asked if that was because his management had had talks about his future, he smiled: "As I said, it has been very positive for me."

Wolff was keen to dampen any speculation to the effect that Fernando is in the frame for a drive with the Brackley team.

"If you have dinner with Flavio it's clear that you talk about Alonso," he said. "But we are very happy with our current driver line-up. There's no reason to question that.

"So there wasn't any talking about Fernando joining the team. We talked about Indy."

No reason to replace Bottas

Wolff said there was no reason to doubt the place of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes next year, despite the team being in no rush to confirm him for a second season.

"At the moment there is no reason why not Valtteri? I think we just want to give ourselves time to see how the season pans out. Probably it's about getting more and more confidence. No reason not to continue with Valtteri.

"He just has to continue what he does now. I wouldn't want to attach it on a specific race result. He's a great addition to the team, and every day he's with us, it becomes more clear.

"I've been in the sport now for seven or eight years, and sometimes taking your time is not a very good, comfortable situation for a driver, but it's good for the team to understand what's happening, and this is why we won't be rushing into any decision when it's not necessary."