MOTORSPORT: Renault are to play it safe this weekend as Fernando Alonso tries to become only the eighth driver in Formula One history to win back-to-back world titles.
Alonso needs just one point from Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix to retain the championship he won at Interlagos a year ago.
That would deny Michael Schumacher a record-extending eighth crown ahead of the curtain coming down on his 16-year career in Formula One.
The Ferrari star trails Alonso by 10 points in the drivers' race, and only victory and a retirement for the Spaniard will guarantee the 37-year-old German ending on the ultimate high.
Yet while Ferrari are going for broke, handing Schumacher an engine that will break the 20,000rpm barrier, Renault are relying on an 'old faithful'. Alonso will remain with the reliable d-spec, even at a cost of up to a couple of tenths of a second per lap. "We are going a bit safer with Fernando," confirmed Renault chief Flavio Briatore.
Meanwhile, Turkish Grand Prix organisers have paid their half of a record $5 million fine imposed on them and the national federation for a podium controversy at this year's Formula One race.
The punishment was imposed after Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat presented the winner's trophy to Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the August race in Istanbul and was introduced to millions of viewers around the world as "president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". The FIA feared that the podium ceremony had compromised its political neutrality.
The World Motor Sport Council yesterday agreed a 17-race Formula One calendar for next season - leaving the future of the San Marino Grand Prix firmly in doubt. Just a month ago an 18-race schedule was formally agreed between world governing body, the FIA, and the teams. But following a meeting of the WMSC in Barcelona yesterday, they have ratified the provisional calendar put in place by the FIA at the end of August.
