Some news tidbits from the world of Formula 1:

Button Must Prove He’s As Good As Hamilton – Ecclestone: 2010 is Jenson Button’s chance to prove he is as good as Britain’s other Formula One driver, according to Bernie Ecclestone. After winning last year’s world championship with Brawn GP, 30-year-old Button has switched to McLaren where he will share the British team with 2008 titleholder Lewis Hamilton. Asked about Button by March’s Red Bulletin magazine, 79-year-old Briton Ecclestone said: “Jenson is Jenson. “He’s a racer of the old school,” added the F1 supremo. “Nice, charming, a great lad. A worthy world champion, but is he as gifted as the others who got the crown? I don’t know. We will find out this year in his duel with Lewis Hamilton,” said Ecclestone. He also mused about the double world champion Fernando Alonso. “Fernando is very Spanish in his character. I get on well with him personally he’s a close friend. “He’s a nice, sensitive, reliable guy who has very high moral standards,” Ecclestone added.

Kovalainen Says Minardi Comments Story ‘Not Fair”: Heikki Kovaleinen insists his comments comparing Lotus with F1′s defunct perennial backmarkers Minardi were “taken out of context”. The 28-year-old driver was quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat this week as saying his new T127 car is “missing more aerodynamically” than the Minardi he tested at Vallelunga in late 2003. Kovalainen wrote on his Twitter on Tuesday that his comments were “taken out of context” and the reports therefore “not fair for our team”.

Force India’s Accounts Up To Date: The recent uncertainty about the future of the Force India team is now over. The UK’s company’s registrar Companies House recently threatened to dissolve the Silverstone based outfit because it had not lodged its mandatory financial accounts for 2008. Last Wednesday had been imposed as a final deadline for the Vijay Mallya-led team, but according to a Companies House public search, the paperwork is no longer listed as ‘overdue’. Force India’s next accounts are due at the end of September.

Coulthard Has Not Signed DTM Contract – Haug: David Coulthard has not yet signed to race in the German touring car series DTM in 2010, according to Mercedes’ Norbert Haug. The Scot tested one of the German marquee’s cars recently, sparking rumors that he will soon test again prior to replacing Mathias Lauda, the son of the triple world champion Niki Lauda. “There is no contract signed, it is only speculation,” Mercedes’ Haug is quoted as saying by the Belgian website autosportnieuws.be.

New Safety Car To Be Gull-Wing SLS AMG: The silver F1 safety car this year will be the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The unique 571 horse power gull-wing supercar, with its doors hinged on the roof that fold upwards, sped to Formula One fame recently when Michael Schumacher drove a red model on the ceiling of a tunnel in a new TV commercial. German Bernd Maylander, 38, will again be the full time safety car driver in 2010, according to Bild newspaper.

Mercedes To Pay Schumacher EUR21m In 2010 – Reports: Reports that Mercedes will pay Michael Schumacher just EUR7 million in 2010 were apparently wide of the mark.Even the 7m paycheck was controversial, with some insiders at the German carmaker arguing that Mercedes should have followed Honda, BMW and Toyota out of the expensive sport. But the Swiss newspaper Blick, and Germany’s n-tv, claim that the seven time world champion’s Mercedes retainer will actually be EUR21m in 2010.