Mark Webber will drive for the Red Bull team next year after signing a contract. This moves comes as a bit of a surprise to me considering that a seat at Renault was potentially available. It had been rumoured that Webber had a deal in the works with a team after it was revealed earlier this week that Williams would not be picking up the option on Webber’s contract.

Webber will join the experienced David Coulthard at Red Bull, but it seems to me that this decision won’t advance Webber’s career that much. Red Bull are more consistent than Williams, but that is hardly saying much. Although one of the best car designers in the world, Adrian Newey (who led Williams and McLaren to championships in the 90’s), will be designing the car for Red Bull next year (which will be a big improvement over the current car), only time will tell if Webber’s decision to sign with Red Bull instead of Renault was a sound one.

A frequent experience for Mark Webber during his time with Williams

After 113 races, Jensen Button finally broke through for his first race victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Button enjoys the bubbly following his victory

In this rain-affected race, Button was assisted by the retirements of the big three drivers - Alonso (wheelnut failure), Schumacher (handling problems), and Raikkonen (accident). Schumacher started from 11th on the grid and Alonso started from 15th, but this seemed to have little effect on them as they were both in the top 6 after the first lap.

Michael Schumacher is considered to be a master at driving in wet conditions, but it was easy to see that his Bridgestone tyres were not in the same league as the Michelins. Alonso was on a tear and made overtaking Schumacher look easy, showing the superiority of the Michelin tyres by overtaking Schumacher on the outside line.

Alonso closes in on Schumacher

It seemed as though Alonso was headed for an unlikely victory, but after his second pit stop, he failed to complete a lap - the first retirement for Alonso this season. This left a great opportunity for Schumacher to reduce Alonso’s lead in the championship, but three laps from the finish, Schumacher was forced to retire after his intermediate (between wet weather and dry weather) tyres got so bare that they caused the car to develop handling problems. Why Schumacher didn’t change to slick tyres once a dry line formed on the circuit I don’t know, but he will be regretting his decision, as he potentially could have closed the gap to 5 or 6 points. As it stands now, though, Alonso’s lead is down to 10 points with 5 races remaining in the season. It’s going to be a great finish to the championship.

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Thanks to Corky for pointing me in the direction of this video

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Can you imagine this guy being in control of one of your matches? You would spend half your time trying not to laugh.

Following the positive result of Floyd Landis’ B sample, Oscar Pereiro may now consider himself the winner of this year’s Tour de France, but honestly, after yet another drug controversy in cycling, there are no winners.

Landis once again denied the results of the B sample stating, “I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone. I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion.”

Well Floyd, it seems that there was a reason you were the strongest man - performance enhancing drugs will most definitely help athletes go beyond their normal limitations, and in your case, they did the job. Unfortunately for you, you’ll be remembered as the drug cheat who disgraced a sport that was already in danger of dying following drug scandal after drug scandal. You’ve disagraced yourself and ruined what remaining credibility cycling had.

The Tour de France no longer recongnises Landis as their champion

Mark Webber had his future determined for him after Williams decided to not pick up the option on his contract for next season. In an earlier entry, I wrote about the great opportunity that Webber could be faced with at the end of the season, but now that Williams has decided to go in another direction, I believe Webber will end up driving for Renault.

Reliability issues have put a damper on Webber’s time with Williams

Whether or not Webber ends up with Renault next year will hinge on what Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen decide to do with their futures. If Schumacher retires, Raikkonen will most likely take his place at Ferrari and Webber will be used at Renault. If Schumacher stays at Ferrari for another season, Raikkonen could end up at Renault by effectively switching positions with Fernando Alonso (who has already signed with McLaren for next season). If this were to happen, it could definitely complicate things for Webber’s prospects. There is a slight possibility that Raikkonen will either end up at Ferrari as the second driver, even if Schumacher doesn’t retire (this seems unlikely though), or that he will stay at McLaren and team up with Alonso.

Webber has the talent to be a top Formula 1 driver, but so far he has been involved with teams that were sub-standard or just provided unreliable and slow cars. If he was given a shot with any of the big 3 teams (Ferrari, Renault, and McLaren), he would be a consistent podium threat. Time will tell where Webber ends up next year, but I’m sure he will be hoping to get a chance to prove just how good he can be.

Who tells these athletes who test positive for performance enhancing drugs to use the excuses they use? First Floyd Landis uses the ‘it was the alcohol’ that caused his high levels of testosterone (this has been proven to be false), and now it’s a massage therapist who is sabotaging Olympic Champion, World Champion, and joint World Record holder, Justin Gatlin, by rubbing testosterone into his legs? Do athletes think that sports followers are ignorant? Gatlin already tested positive once before, for amphetamines, and as a result he faces a lifetime ban.

Please don’t ban me for life

It’s not looking good for Gatlin - he is coached by Trevor Graham, who was a controversial appointment by Gatlin considering Graham’s involvement with the BALCO scandal and his history of coaching athletes that have tested positive for banned substances. His excuse for the positive test is flimsy and surely will not hold up. If he is indeed banned for life, he will be remembered with Ben Johnson and Tim Montgomery as 100 metres champions who have had their careers end in drug disgrace.

While the huge amounts of money continue to be offered to the premier athletes in the world, athletes will continue to push the envelope when it comes to drugs. Athletes continue to be willing to risk being caught taking performance enhancing drugs in search of the big payoff. Gatlin has no doubt made millions of dollars in endorsments since his Olympic victory in Athens, but now he is disgraced. He’ll just have to go into hiding in his mansion or take a drive in one of his luxury cars - tough life for someone who cheated the system.