FIA president Jean Todt has spoken out about several hot topics currently taking place in Formula 1, including declaring the possibility of the sport turning fully electric as "nonsense".

Recently, Ross Brawn suggested it could be conceivable that the petrol engine could be a thing of the past within 10 years should changes in technology and society permit a change to electric power.

However, the Frenchman ruled it out for several reasons, chief among which is an agreement made with Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag that makes it the "exclusive" all-electric single-seater category.

“It would be nonsense to say in the coming future F1 is going to be electric, it’s not going to happen. Simply you could not do it,” Todt added.

“At the moment one of the reasons Formula E is in cities is because it would not create any interest to have Formula E on a circuit like Monza for example.

“We are talking about two different categories. It is completely misleading to compare Formula E and F1. F1 is a very well-established category, and I keep saying for me Formula E is the baby of the FIA.

“So still a lot to learn, but saying that, it’s growing very well. But comparing the two categories is just boring.”

Another topic of debate has been the Halo, after what many consider its first major role in saving a driver when Fernando Alonso flew over Charles Leclerc's Sauber at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

"Sometimes, the frustrating thing is that when it was done [Halo was introduced], they [the drivers] were not so much convinced," Todt claimed.

"But in a way we respect what they do and they should respect what we try to do. We did it because we were convinced it was a good thing.

"It changed a little bit the design of the car but honestly I love racing, I love F1. I am not in shock when I see a car with the Halo.

"My concern was, do they miss some visibility because of the Halo? They [the drivers] did not have any concerns. So for me, it was obvious [to introduce it] and sooner or later we knew that something would happen."

Williams reserve driver Robert Kubica has admitted he may not achieve his final goal of making a full-time return to the Formula 1 grid.

The Pole has been looking for opportunities to do so for over a year, completing a series of tests with Renault before targeting Williams in the latter half of last season.

Ultimately, it ended with the third driver role he currently has at the Grove-based team but hopes for that final step appear mixed.

“For me, it is more speculation than emotion,” Kubica told Poland’s Przeglad Sportowy. “A lot happened in [the] F1 [driver market] in August, but for me it’s not like a lot of doors suddenly opened or closed.”

The 33-year-old has completed several Friday practice appearances with Williams and has even been linked to Toro Rosso for 2019 but Kubica knows nothing is guaranteed.

“What I was trying to do was drive an F1 car. Currently, the regulations are not favourable because there is almost no testing," he said.

“So my priority was to sit behind the wheel, but of course by signing a contract you have to be professional and in case something happens, get in the car and do your job.

“But the fact that I could get into the car does not automatically mean that I will be able to do all the races.

“On the one hand it would be the accomplishment of a dream, but on the other, it may not have the happy end that I want.”

With Lance Stroll's exit at Williams looming, Kubica had been considered a natural replacement, although the influence of sponsorship backing could again thwart that possibility.

As a Mercedes customer, the plight of Esteban Ocon is another factor with the highly-rated Frenchman seeking to remain on the grid.

“If I was him, I would not be pushing too much for it,” Kubica said of Ocon moving to Williams. “But I just do my own thing.”

With four consecutive podium finishes to his name, Daniel Ricciardo is keen to go one better and finally take victory at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.

The Australian is quite a specialist around street circuits, having won in Baku and Monaco yet Marina Bay has been a case of close but not close enough during his time with Red Bull.

Having failed to finish four of the past six races this season, Ricciardo is also keen to get his season back on track with this weekend possibly his best chance to win before leaving for Renault.

"As everyone knows, I love street circuits. The feeling of driving on the edge, so close to the walls, is something you just can’t get enough of," he said in his preview.

"It’s the original night race and the schedule is always pretty hectic but there is something kind of romantic about going to the track at night and then to bed at four or five in the morning.

"It’s a place where I also have good races and finish pretty strong, so it’s about time I win the damn thing."

As a major transport hub, Singapore is somewhat of a home race for the 29-year-old with many Australians making the trip to the city-state, yet his love for the Singapore GP took time to emerge.

"For me, the first year I raced there in 2011 was one of the worst races I have been involved in," he explained.

"Physically it was so intense, I just underestimated how hard it would be. I wasn’t in a happy place after that race, it gave me a feeling I never want to experience in a race car again, so I made a promise to myself that I would always come to Singapore over-prepared.

"In a way, this is now something I take pride in; I always get there feeling really sharp and well prepared. I now really like that challenge and I also thrive in the heat. In a strange way, the pain has become pleasure over the years."

With Formula 1 anticipating the imminent announcement of Charles Leclerc as a Ferrari driver in 2019, it appears a post on Facebook may have leaked the news.

Rumours suggested a meeting was due to take place in Italy on Thursday in which the Monegasque would be confirmed as replacing Kimi Raikkonen next season, leading to fans tracking Twitter all day.

Ultimately, nothing happened but now a post by Lapo Elkann, brother of Ferrari chairman John, has apparently congratulated Leclerc on his new drive.

"Proud to have believed in you since the debut in F1," a post on Lapo's Garage Italia company Facebook read and was quoted by F1i.com.

"Proud to have accompanied you on the track, corner after corner. Happy to see you soon at the wheel of the red Charles Leclerc."

Unsurprisingly, it was quickly taken down and replaced with another in which Elkann "hopes it comes true soon" but given the nature of that first post, it's more than likely a premature confirmation.

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As the situation is currently understood, Ferrari is still weighing up whether to abide by a contract signed by former chairman Sergio Marchionne for Leclerc to be a race driver in 2019.

The new leadership is keen to maintain Raikkonen for another year, with a petition launched online gathering huge support calling for just that, and could offer compensation to the 20-year-old Sauber driver to delay that contract for one more year.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has turned up the heat in their beef with Renault by suggesting their protest after the Italian GP was motivated by competitive spite.

Romain Grosjean was excluded from sixth place at Monza after the FIA deemed his car illegal following a complaint regarding a part of the floor which was not in compliance with a technical directive issued earlier this summer.

Haas has now begun the process of appealing that decision with Steiner taking aim at the French manufacturer ahead of this weekend's race in Singapore.

“If they cannot beat you on the track, they try to beat you in court,” the Italian claimed. “That is what seems to be happening. You have to work hard to be envied. We’d rather work hard for it and fight even more.

“Sometimes, you have to do that [lodge complaints]. You take any approach in racing. Is it the right thing to do? I’ll let others determine that.”

Part of their appeal is that they had asked the FIA for a grace period of up to Singapore to make amendments to their floor, meaning the issue should not repeat itself, and Steiner doesn't expect any kind of hangover.

“This doesn’t distract me,” he said. “Our people know where they need to put the effort in.

“We don’t get distracted when we go racing. We try to always get good results in racing and leave the other stuff offline.”

Former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes neither Lewis Hamilton nor Sebastian Vettel would accept Max Verstappen as a teammate.

Last year, the future of the Dutchman was subject to speculation as Red Bull endured a difficult start under the current car design rules and both Mercedes and Ferrari reportedly made plays for him.

Ultimately, Max would re-commit until 2020 and is now set to lead the Milton Keynes outfit after the departure of Daniel Ricciardo, but Ecclestone doubts a move elsewhere for the 20-year-old is currently possible.

"I don't think any of the world champions would want to have him in the team," he said speaking to 2019 world champion Nico Rosberg in a podcast.

"I think he'd have a bigger job getting a seat in a [leading] team than Fernando [Alonso] has. I don't think Ferrari would welcome him with open arms or Mercedes."

Though the German argued the opposite case to Ecclestone, the 87-year-old persisted.

"Put it this way, you wouldn't be delighted if you were in a team - forget the word number one but assume you were the top guy in the team - and someone says 'the guy who's going to drive the other car is Verstappen'," he responded

"That's a different story. Sebastian wouldn't want him, Lewis wouldn't want him."

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• Horner: Ricciardo didn't want a 'support role' to Verstappen at Red Bull

The situation this year around Ricciardo has been a perfect example of why, this time, Ecclestone is spot on.

In an ideal world, the Australian would be a wanted man by every team on the grid but neither Mercedes nor Ferrari reportedly made a serious approach mainly because of likely vetoes by their current lead drivers.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has come to the defence of Sebastian Vettel after he was criticised for his first lap incident with Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix.

In front of the partisan Tifosi at Monza, expectations were high that Ferrari could claim their first win at home since 2010 after locking out the front row in qualifying.

Those hopes were dashed, however, when the German spun at the second chicane following contact with his main championship rival, leading to the arguments by some that the tendency for crucial errors by Vettel would ultimately cost him another title.

"I'm not completely neutral, but for me Lewis is the best driver of recent years," Wolff began, speaking to the Die Welt newspaper. "Even so, I find the criticism of Sebastian not quite fair.

"If possible to win, he has the ambition to do it with the necessary aggression, that requires a lot of courage and his way of driving sometimes leads to collisions. But let's not forget that he won four world championships. As I do with Lewis, you have to accept that."

Though it was Vettel that came off second best in the exchange, leading to the criticism, the Austrian believes luck played a factor.

"It could easily have been Lewis instead of Sebastian who spun, then the whole Grand Prix would have been different," said Wolff.

"In the high tech world of Formula 1, everything is not decided linearly and rationally, but also with luck, misfortune and coincidence."

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• Hamilton & Vettel split over Lap 1 clash at Monza
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Looking ahead to this weekend's race in Singapore, expectations are Ferrari should dominate around a street circuit which also highlights the main weaknesses of the German manufacturer.

Toto though is not giving up.

“We will give it everything in Singapore and all of the remaining races," he declared. “We will turn the whole factories in Brixworth and Brackley upside down to extract performance, and go to Singapore with the aim of doing the best.

“Whether that is good enough to win the race or not I don’t know yet, but the next seven races are going to be maximum attack.”

With two seats up for grabs in 2019, Toro Rosso could look to two ex-drivers as advisor Helmut Marko admits a long list of options.

In recent weeks, the possibility of a shock return for Daniil Kvyat has been touted and confirmed and now former Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi, who raced with the junior Red Bull team until 2012, is another name linked.

The suspicion was raised after Toro Rosso tweeted a photo of the Swiss, who still has the role of reserve driver at Red Bull & STR, having a seat fitting at their Faenza factory on Thursday.

While purely hypothetical, there could be some logic behind Buemi making a return based on his performances in Formula E and also with Toyota in the WEC.

An all-new line-up is considered likely as Pierre Gasly heads to Red Bull and pressure builds on Brendon Hartley to perform with Marko claiming a "significant" improvement is needed.

Commenting on the driver situation at Toro Rosso for next year, the Austrian added there was no shortage of names.

"There is no shortlist, it's more like a long list," Marko told Speed Week. "There are 10 names on it."

With their lead academy driver Dan Ticktum still some way off building the necessary points for an F1 superlicence, it is necessitating Red Bull's need to look elsewhere.

Lando Norris was a name mentioned earlier in the year, and now the man he'll replace at McLaren, Stoffel Vandoorne, has been recommended by CEO Zak Brown.

Robert Kubica is another but the Pole insists his attention is solely at Williams and then there's Esteban Ocon, who is facing the axe from Force India and now, could be released by Mercedes as teams point to his association as a reason not to hire the 21-year-old.

As Marko concluded: "Everything is possible!"

Sebastian Vettel says he is 'happy' to fight his teammate Kimi Raikkonen should Ferrari not impose team orders to help his Formula 1 title fight.

A disgruntled German let his emotions out after a disappointing Italian Grand Prix slamming his team's approach in qualifying which then left him vulnerable to the attack from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap which saw him spun around after contact.

Vettel argued he had to "race three cars", including Raikkonen, as some speculated the Finn was no longer interested in playing the team game, but either way the 31-year-old claims he does not care.

“Obviously I can see the questions coming up, but for me it's pretty clear: I'm happy to fight three cars, I'm happy to actually fight 19 cars,” he was quoted by Crash.net.

"I think I've never been in a different position to that. That's fine. I don't expect anything else."

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According to former McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen, however, opting not to work together would be the worst thing the two drivers could do as Vettel looks for a fifth F1 title.

"There are seven races remaining in this year’s world championship and Ferrari cannot afford to have further battles between their drivers, mistakes by Sebastian or errors in race strategy," the double world champion wrote on his Unibet column.

"To beat Lewis, Valtteri and the Mercedes team, Ferrari now needs to do a perfect job every weekend and hope that Mercedes has some problems."

The 'flying Finn' also heaped praise on the German manufacturer for their performance in the wake of a strong Ferrari car.

"No one can say that Lewis is there because the Mercedes has a major advantage," he said. "He is there because he and the Mercedes team are doing a better job."

Sebastian Vettel finally let his frustrations be known with Ferrari and teammate Kimi Raikkonen after a disastrous Italian Grand Prix.

The German saw his hopes of a fifth championship suffer a significant blow as he made contact with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap at Monza, dropped to the back and then recovered to fourth.

With the Briton going on to win, it means the gap between the two is now 30 points with seven races to go and Vettel believes his team should take the blame for what happened.

"I'm not particularly happy with the way Ferrari managed things on Saturday [in qualifying]," he told Ziggo Sport. "It should've been me starting from pole position."

The four-time world champion was referring to how he being the lead driver resulted in him giving Raikkonen a tow on his final Q3 lap which was enough to snatch P1, on the radio afterwards he told the team "we'll discuss later".

Turning his attention to the race, Vettel added: "When I had to evade him in the next [second] chicane, Lewis could get past. I had no space and made a spin and had severe damage.

"For me, it's clear: I have to race three cars, including my teammate."

Also Read:

• Leclerc contract could stop Ferrari re-signing Raikkonen - report
• Hamilton expects F1 would miss Raikkonen post-retirement

Speaking after the race, team boss Maurizio Arrivabene called on the Scuderia to re-double their efforts ahead of a key race coming up next.

“It was definitely not the result we were looking for to give to our fans, who supported us in fine style all weekend, for which I thank them on behalf of the entire team,” he said, reflecting on Monza.

“We know we have a very strong car, which was clearly demonstrated by the fact we monopolised the front row of the grid. Now, the important thing is to react as a team, in an orderly and determined fashion, without ever giving up.

“There is still a long way to go in the championship and we are already preparing for the next challenge in Singapore.”