Alonso ready to ditch McLaren; Final race to decide F1 season

The speculation that current McLaren Formula One driver and two time defending world champion Fernando Alonso is going back to team Renault could soon become a reality. Alonso, who has made it an art of looking out for self, met secretly with Renault front-men Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds two weeks back during the Japanese Grand Prix. During the meeting Alonso discussed a two or three year contract with Renault starting next season. Sure, Alonso is under contract with McLaren for 2008, but given the fact that he essentially snitched on his team during the “spygate” scandal and has been bickering all season with teammate Lewis Hamilton, McLaren will probably be all too happy to terminate the remaining year on his contract.

While Alonso looks ahead to his future, there’s the matter of the current Formula One season, which got a lot more interesting when points leader Hamilton failed to finish at the Chinese Grand Prix. Going into the final race of the season in Brazil, the top 3 drivers – Hamilton, Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen – is separated by a mere 7 points. The first place finisher at the Brazilian grand prix has a chance to win a precious 10 points, meaning that the race for the driver’s championship will come down to the final race of the season, as it should.

So, what’s the ideal scenario for Ferrari and Raikkonen? For Kimi to finish first, teammate Felipe Massa to finish second, Alonso to finish anywhere from third on down and Hamilton to finish no higher than fifth. It’s a long-shot for sure, but that’s why they run the races.

In The News: September 30, 2007

Team McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton is on the cusp of history, as he ran away with a first place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. With the win and with only 2 Formula One races remaining till season’s end, Hamilton, who came in only 2 points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso in the driver’s championship race, put himself in position to become the first rookie ever to win the Formula One driver’s championship – pretty impressive indeed. As for the rest of the drivers that matter, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished third, moving all the way up the field after finding himself second to last earlier in the race, while Alonso crashed out (perhaps bad karma finally catching?) and didn’t finish the race. With 2 races and 20 maximum points remaining the top 3 drivers are: Lewis Hamilton (107 pts), Fernando Alonso (95 pts) and Kimi Raikkonen (90 pts).

A weekend of upsets shakes up college football

Talk about a looney Saturday in college football! In a day of upsets, the third, fourth, seventh and tenth ranked teams all lost their respective games, while the fifth ranked team lost on Thursday – the first time since 2003 where half of the college football top 10 lost in one crazy weekend. This weekend, No. 5 ranked West Virginia lost to South Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma lost to Colorado, No. 4 Florida lost to Auburn and No. 7 Texas lost to Kansas State. The weekend has thrown the BCS race and the college football rankings for a loop, but this is what makes college football – and football in general – such a great sport. On any given day, the most powerful teams in the land can take a dive against a scrappy challenger who outplays, outhustles, outworks and outsmarts their stronger opponent.

Favre breaks career touchdown record

Brett Favre broke Dan Marino’s career record by throwing his 421st career touchdown in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. Good for Favre, but his record might not last very long given what Peyton Manning has done in his first 9 seasons in the league. Not counting the 5 touchdowns he has thrown this year, Manning has 275 touchdowns in those 9 seasons. At his current pace, if he were to play 17 seasons like Favre has, Manning could end up with more than 500 career TDs.

McLaren planning a successor to the legendary F1?

Long-time collaborators McLaren and Mercedes recently parted ways, partially stemming from the relatively sup-par sales and performance of the joint Mercedes SLR McLaren supercar project. But apparently, that fall-out isn’t stopping either company from moving ahead on the development of two brand new supercars. According to rumors coming out of Europe, Mercedes will begin work on a successor to the SLR with new partner HWA (a company made up of former AMG division heads), while McLaren is pretty far along on the development of the successor to the legendary McLaren F1.

There are bits and pieces of news on the so-called McLaren F2 streaming out from a variety of sources, including a 7-page article in the latest issue of the UK-based CAR magazine. Apparently, the F2 can trace its origins back to the relatively cheaper, at least compared to the $1 million F1, P8 sports car that the company was building along with Mercedes – this project was separate from the development of the SLR. Given the current fall-out between the two companies and issues with the P8 car’s engineering, that specific project was scrapped.

But, from those origins came what is now being called the P11, which is the supposed code-name for the successor to the McLaren F1. The P11 will get its power from a highly sophisticated V-8, the development of which will rely heavily on McLaren’s current F1 technology, just as the original V-12 powered F1 was originally based on Formula One cars of its era. The McLaren F2, it is also rumored, will be mid-engine rear-wheel drive, two-seat coupe with a full carbon fiber monocoque body frame.

McLaren is planning to best the industry leading acceleration and top-speed numbers (0-62 in 2.5 seconds and top speed of 253 mph) established by the Bugatti Veyron, which would be truly astounding indeed. The McLaren F2 could arrive as early as 2010.

In The News: September 5, 2007

Calling Kobe Bryant confident is like saying Ferraris are fast – it goes without saying. The Los Angeles Lakers and recently minted Team USA star displayed some of that bravado during his current whirlwind, Nike-sponsored trip to Asia by announcing that he is confident that the US National team can win gold during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Kobe said that this US Team will face a “much greater” challenge at the Olympics than what the 1992 Dream Team led by Magic, Jordan and Bird faced in Atlanta. "We're preparing for (the Olympics) like we were playing for the NBA finals,” Kobe said.

Michigan takes monumental tumble

From being ranked number 5 to being clear out of the AP Top 25, the Michigan Wolverines took the largest tumble in the NCAA college football rankings since the poll expanded to 25 teams. The Maize and Blue lost this past weekend to former Division 1-AA school Appalachian State, marking what some are calling the biggest upset in the history of college football. If you think Michigan Wolverine fans were devastated by the loss to the lowly Mountaineers, imagine how Michigan football head coach Lloyd Carr must be feeling right about now. Carr, who was contemplating retirement after season’s end, might want to speed up those proceedings.

Don't sleep on Formula One

The Formula One season rolls into Monza, Italy this weekend for the aptly-named Italian Grand Prix. With only five races to go until season’s end, two drivers each from Ferrari and McLaren are locked in an incredibly close race for the coveted drivers’ championship. McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who have had a rather contentious relationship, are at the top of the standings, with Alonso only 5 points behind Hamilton. While, Ferrari teammates Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who seem to be on better terms, having finished one-two at the recent Turkish Grand Prix, are third and fourth respectively in driver points. The remaining five races will be a literal sprint to the finish and should be a lot of fun to watch. The Italian Grand Prix will be shown on Speed TV on Sunday, September 9 at 3:00pm Eastern.

Beckham's former coach has serious beef

Soccer star David Beckham’s former coach, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, doesn’t think the former “Man U” star has what it takes to significantly increase the sport’s profile in the US.

"It is difficult with David going there. I don't know what kind of impact he can make," Ferguson said. "David Beckham himself can't change the whole country. In European soccer, and especially in British soccer, you can travel easily. If you are in Boston and need to go to Los Angeles, it's a six-hour flight. Supporters don't travel, so you are missing that rivalry between fans."

Soccer wasn’t specifically the only subject discussed, as Ferguson addressed an audience in Glasgow, Scotland. It seems that the Manchester United manager isn’t a big fan of Beckham’s high profile spouse, Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls, either.

"He was never a problem until he got married," Ferguson continued. "He was a fantastic young lad. Getting married into that entertainment scene was a difficult thing -- from that moment his life was never going to be the same. He is such a big celebrity, soccer is only a small part."

Apple drops iPhone price. Is a sleeker version planned at the original price point?

Only month's after its launch, Apple cut the price of its decidedly cool iPhone from the original $599 to a somewhat affordable $399. Historically, particularly with its line of iPods, Apple has been known to hold the launch price point well into the product's lifecyle, so the quick price-cut on the iPhone is a clear indication that the product may be falling behind the company's sales targets. So, while At&T network users are the still the only consumers that can buy and use an iPhone (unless you use this hack), the new $200 cheaper price point should help move a lot of the devices this fall. The price-cut though brings up an interesting question. Is Apple planning on bringing a newer, sleeker, cooler iPhone to market at the original $599 price point soon?