Everyone waiting on Alonso to make first move, says Grosjean

The driver carousel for 2015 also continued to turn. Romain Grosjean, who is tipped to leave Lotus, said everyone is waiting for Alonso's next move.

Waiting on Fernando

"You have to wait for Ferrari and Alonso and by then the market will have moved," said the Frenchman. "Alonso is the key of the market."

Alonso, however, has spent the last few days dismissing all the speculation, and on Thursday he reiterated that when his last McLaren adventure went bad, it was because of the "team management".

It is said that the very same Ron Dennis is now aggressively wooing the Spaniard.

I see my future with Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

He may also be wooing another former McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton, who according to Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has had his contract talks "frozen" for now amid the heat of the title battle.

"Well," Hamilton said on Thursday, "I haven't said that I was freezing anything.

"But I would like to say that I see my future with Mercedes. I am really happy here," he insisted.

Parabolica makeover

Finally, a big point of interest on Thursday was what the FIA has done to the Parabolica corner, where much of the fabled gravel has been asphalted over in the name of safety.

Most who saw the final product concluded that it is perhaps not as bad as expected -- that a serious error at the corner will still result in a damaging trip into trouble.

Force India's Sergio Perez, however, was not impressed.

"Parabolica was an iconic part of Monza so it is a shame we lost it. I don't understand why," he said.