Bloggin' is Racin'

Alonso back with Renault

Fernando Alonso announced Monday that he will return to the team where he won two Formula One world titles in 2005 and 2006. Alonso agreed to a two-year contract with Renault, the Associated Press reported.
Spanish media reported that Alonso would earn $51.3 million per season, though Renault would not confirm the figure.
“I am delighted to be returning to Renault,” Alonso said in a statement . “This is the team where I grew up as a driver in Formula One. Now it is time for us to begin a new chapter together.”
Alonso is moving on after a turbulent season at McLaren, where the 26-year-old Spaniard was released from his three-year contract last month after publicly falling out with team boss Ron Dennis.
The rocky relations — caused by Dennis' refusal to give Alonso No. 1 status over rookie driving partner Lewis Hamilton — eventually led to a spy scandal that cost McLaren $100 million and all of its constructors' championships points.
“It's not easy to sum up a season with just a grade or a number. What is certain is that 2007 has been a very good year for me in spite of what people think,” said Alonso, who finished third in the 2007 drivers' standings with 109 points, one behind champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
Alonso will partner another rookie in Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault, but his No. 1 status is certain due to a close relationship to team boss Flavio Briatore.
“We are delighted to be welcoming Fernando back home to the team where he enjoyed his greatest success,” Briatore said. “He knows the team well and how we operate. He will feel comfortable straight away in this environment.”

Spying doesn't pay, part 237

McLaren's racing plans for 2008 hit a snag Friday. The World Motor Sport Council deferred a ruling on whether McLaren illegally used confidential data from Formula One rival Ferrari on its 2008 car, The Associated Press reported. The council called an extraordinary general meeting for Feb. 14 in Paris where McLaren, Ferrari and other F1 teams can respond to the FIA technical department's report on the 2008 McLaren car.

The decision means McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the 2007 drivers' championship in his rookie season, won't know whether his 2008 car has been cleared until a month before the opening race.

The F1 season starts March 16 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia.

McLaren was fined a record $100 million in September and stripped of all points in the constructors' standings after a 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars was found at the home of McLaren's chief designer.

Hamilton and teammate Fernando Alonso escaped punishment, but FIA said the British-based team could be thrown out of the 2008 season if its car is found to have been altered with Ferrari's data.
McLaren said it would cooperate with FIA.

“From the very beginning McLaren has provided the FIA with full access and complete co-operation, and remains confident no confidential information has been incorporated within the team's 2007 and 2008 cars,” McLaren said in a statement.

In other Formula One news:

Renault escaped punishment for possessing confidential information about Formula One rival McLaren because the material was of no use to the team, the sport's governing body said Friday.

The World Motor Sport Council said the unauthorized possession of four technical drawings was not serious enough to merit a penalty similar to the record $100 million fine imposed on McLaren in September for using confidential data from Ferrari.

Ratings wreck

The NASCAR season is over and the 59th Cup champion has been crowned, but you have to wonder if NASCAR is celebrating. The United States' most popular form of motorsport had another rough year in the TV ratings. NASCAR went into spin control after it was announced ratings were down 9 percent from 2006 and 21 percent from 2005. Ratings were down for all but seven races in 2007, including a 14-percent drop for the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and almost an 11-percent decline for the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So why is viewership down? Let's take a look at some possible reasons viewers are being driven away:

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s struggles. The sport's most popular driver missed the Chase for the second time in three years and has won only two races in that same span. You think NASCAR hopes this Little E-Hendrick thing works out?
2. Hendrick Haters. Do the majority of NASCAR fans really despise Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon that much? It's safe to say some were probably turned off by their dominance this season.
3. Burnout. The drivers face it, so maybe the fans do, too. Thirty-six races, which also means 36 draining prerace shows, is a lot. And NASCAR, we beg you, please shorten the Pocono races. Two 500-mile races a year in Long Pond is just mind-numbing; it's surprising the drivers don't nod off.
4. Foreign invasion. The old-school fans thought the world was coming to an end when Jeff Gordon, from all the way out in California, popped up on the scene. Now, drivers from Colombia to Canada are competing in NASCAR. What will the purists think when Toyota wins its first race in 2008?
5. The product. Forget there are commercials every 5 minutes and the Draft Tracker is a bust. Maybe the problem is the racing itself. The cookie-cutter 1.5-mile and flat 2-mile tracks provide some of the worst, cars-strung-out-all-over-the-place racing, yet they dominate the schedule.

-- Dusty Schwab