Schumacher concedes title to Alonso

This is my favorite news of the day. It was actually a heart breaking loss for the German as he was leading Alonso for most of race until his unexpected engine failure.

From the F1 website

After
qualifying first and second for the Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari were
widely expected to finish Sunday’s race in the same positions.
Unfortunately things didn’t go quite to plan for the Italian team.


All
started well, with pole man Felipe Massa retaining the lead at the
start from Michael Schumacher, the Brazilian then dutifully letting his
team mate by on lap three, allowing the German to take control of the
race - and supposedly the drivers’ championship.



Things started to go wrong for Massa just ahead of his first stop, when
he was forced to come in early due to a slow puncture in his right-rear
Bridgestone tyre. That handed the advantage to Renault’s Fernando
Alonso, who after his first stop was able to get back out ahead of the
Ferrari.



Even then, things were still looking pretty good in the red camp,
Schumacher maintaining a comfortable ten-second-plus margin over
Alonso. That was until lap 37 when smoke started to bellow from the
rear of Schumacher’s 248 F1. It quickly proved terminal, forcing the
seven-times champion to pull off the track and into retirement with an
extremely rare Ferrari engine failure.



Alonso was clear to cruise to victory, untroubled by Massa, who came
home 16 seconds behind the Spaniard. The result means Schumacher, who
went into Sunday’s race as favourite for the championship, now needs a
huge slice of luck at the final round in Brazil if he is to take an
eighth title.



He must win, with Alonso failing to score, something Schumacher insists
he is not even hoping for. “As for the drivers’ (title) it is lost,"
said the German. "I don’t want to head off for a race, hoping that my
rival has to retire. That is not the way in which I want to win the
title.”



Ferrari have a slightly better chance of winning the constructors’
championship. Despite taking just eight points away from Suzuka to
Renault’s 16, they could yet overhaul what is now a nine-point deficit
to their French rivals.