Gutierrez insists future lies with Sauber

Esteban Guti?rrez has played down suggestions that Sauber's recently-agreed partnership with a group of Russian investors could lead to the end of his F1 career.

According to reporteindigo.com, the Mexican claims to be talking to the team about being a part of its line-up next season, despite the Russian involvement aiming to promote the inexperienced Sergey Sirotkin to a race seat for 2014.

"Right now, the media are so efficient that on Twitter, on Facebook or anywhere you want, things spread very fast," Gutierrez said during a visit to a Monterrey kart circuit, where he was keeping his hand in during F1's summer shutdown "They speak a thousand things, and maybe things that are not true.

"Many people have speculated [on the situation] and are concerned about my position at Sauber. I know well what my future plans are, I have good communication with [the team] so I'm focused on what I have to do."

It is not only the involvement of the Russian investors that has cast doubt on Gutierrez's F1 future, as the Mexican rookie has yet to score a point in the top flight. While the season has been a tough one for the Swiss squad on track as well as off, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg has accrued seven points from four top ten finishes, while Gutierrez has endured a mixed start to his first year since graduating from the reserve role at Hinwil.

"We can do better on the technical side," Gutierrez admitted, "but I can use the experience I have gained to make things better in the second half of the season. That is the key to better results."