Shakira confirms romance with her 'sunshine' Gerard

After much press speculation, Shakira has confirmed her relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Pique.

The Colombian singer, 34, posted a romantic photo on Twitter, showing the pair at a beach setting with their arms wrapped around each other.

Accompanying the picture, she wrote: "I present to you my sunshine."

Shakira and the sports star, 24, became the subject of intense media speculation when they were spotted holding hands in Barcelona earlier this month.

They first met last spring while shooting the video for her World Cup songWaka Waka (This Time For Africa).

Both have previously denied the romance; at a press conference in Spain, Shakira described the reports as a "waka rumour".

The She Wolf star announced the end of her ten-year relationship with Antonio de la Rua – son of former Argentine president Fernando de la Rua – on her official website in January.

Netherlands, Spain and France dominate their Euro groups

The Netherlands, France and Spain continued to dominate their Euro qualifying groups on Friday with victories.

   The Dutch won 4-0 in Hungary, France beat Luxembourg 2-0, while Spain came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1.

There were also good wins for Belgium (2-0 in Austria) and Serbia (2-1 against Northern Ireland).

In Granada Jaroslav Plasil gave the Czech Republic a 1-0 half-time lead, but two goals by David Villa in the space of four minutes in the 69th and 73rd minute gave the home side the lead and saw them maintain their 100 per cent record in Group I with 12 points from four matches.

The defending champions lead the Czech Republic by six points, while Scotland are on four.

   The Dutch, who last year lost the World Cup final to Spain, had an ideal start in Budapest, as Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring in the 8th minute.

   Ibrahim Afellay doubled his side's lead in first half-half injury time and Dirk Kuyt and Robin Van Persie gave the visitors a convincing 4-0 victory that sees them top Group E with a maximum 15 points from their five matches.

   Hungary are second with nine points - three ahead of Sweden and Moldova, who have played two and one game less though respectively and meet on Tuesday.

   Philippe Mexes and Yoann Gourcuff scored for France in Luxembourg to give the Les Bleus a four point lead in Group D from Belarus and puts them well in line for a place at next years' finals in Ukraine and Poland.

   In Group A, where table-topping Germany face Kazakhstan on Saturday, Belgium moved into second place ahead of Austria with a 2-0 victory in Vienna.

   Axel Witsel scored both goals for the visitors, who moved to seven points from their five matches. Austria are on the same number of points, but have played a game less.

   In Group C Thiago Motta scored Italy's winner in the 73rd minute off a pass from defender Federico Balzaretti.

   Italy's coach Cesare Prandelli said that the win gave his team "further stimulus although we have a lot to work. Of course a win helps improve your self esteem.

   "Already at half-time the boys felt they could continue on with their good game. However, we are not at all certain to qualify."

   In the other game in the group in Belgrade Gareth McAuley gave Northern Ireland a 1-0 half-time against Serbia, which Marko Pantelic equalized in the 65th minute.

   Zoran Tosic scored the winner for the home side in the 74th minute.

   Northern Irish captain Chris Brunt said the players were gutted by the defeat. "It is the same old story, we go a goal up, but then can't hold onto it. We have let ourselves down and it is disappointing.

   "Ultimately we were not good enough in the second half.

   The match was played behind closed doors with just 265 people in the stadium after Serbian fans clashed earlier in the qualifiers in Italy, but Brunt said they had not made that count.

   "When the game starts, you just get on with it. It should have been a plus for us because the Serbian fans are pretty wild. In the first half it was, but then in the second we were not in it."

   Italy lead the group with 13 points, ahead of Slovenia and Serbia, who both have seven.

A further 13 Euro qualifiers are being played on Saturday.

Alves extends Barcelona contract until 2015

Spanish champions Barcelona announced on Tuesday that right-back Dani Alves had agreed to extend his contract with the club for three more seasons, until 2015.

The contract of the Brazilian was due to expire in 2012. He had been negotiating the extension with Barca for four months.

Barca have not revealed the details of the deal, but media reports claimed that Alves' annual salary will increase to around five million euros (7.091 dollars).

Alves, 27, was bought by Barca from Sevilla in 2007 for around 35 million euros, which made him the most expensive defender in football history. He has helped the Catalans to win two Spanish Ligas and one Champions League. 

Djokovic into second in rankings

Serbian Novak Djokovic, who on Sunday won the Indian Wells title, moved into second place in the world tennis rankings released by the ATP on Monday. 

Djokovic, who beat former world number one Roger Federer in the semi-finals and as a result swapped places in the rankings with him, went on to beat Rafael Nadal in the final.

The Spaniard, however, continues to hold a convincing lead at the top of nearly 4,000 points.

   ATP top 10 as of March 21 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Rafael Nadal, Spain, 12,630 2. (3) Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 8,710 3. (2) Roger Federer, Switzerland, 8,280 4. (4) Robin Soderling, Sweden, 5,735 5. (5) Andy Murray, Britain, 5,545 6. (6) David Ferrer, Spain, 4,510 7. (7) Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,320 8. (8) Andy Roddick, United States, 3,260 9. (9) Fernando Verdasco, Spain, 3,095 10. (10) Juergen Melzer, Austria, 2,695

Real win Madrid derby, Barcelona beat Getafe

Real Madrid managed to stay in the Spanish title race on Saturday with a 2-1 win away to hapless neighbours Atletico Madrid, with goals from Karim Benzema and Mesut Oezil.

Their eighth consecutive defeat of Atletico leaves Real five points behind leaders Barcelona, who earlier on Saturday beat Getafe 2-1 at home.

Barca have a record-breaking 78 points from 29 games, Real have 73.

Barca's win meant that Real had no choice but to beat Atletico in order to stay in the race. They went ahead after 12 minutes, when the in-form Benzema calmly finished after being played through by Sami Khedira.

Benzema has scored in Real's last six games, including Wednesday's 3-0 Champions League thrashing of Lyon.

Oezil, the most effective player on the field, made it 2-0 for the whites in the 34th minute with a precise high left-foot shot, after good work down the left by Marcelo.

Atletico - who have not beaten Real since 1999 - created several good chances only to be foiled time and again by Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Atletico forward Sergio Aguero finally beat Casillas six minutes from time, with a low toe-poke, but it came too late to save Atletico from yet another derby defeat.

Real hero Casillas said: "They will beat us one day. Maybe the result was unjust because they had more chances. We were a little tired in the second half ... These are three very important points for us."

Earlier on Saturday, Barca had beaten Getafe with goals from Dani Alves and Bojan.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola said: "This is a magnificent result, we played very well. We must continue to play like this and continue with this dynamic."

Before the game there was a moving homage to Barca left-back Eric Abidal, who will miss the rest of the season after undergoing, on Thursday, an emergency operation to remove a liver tumour.

As expected, Barca dominated from start to finish and created countless chances, but only managed two goals. They had three good penalty claims turned down and a goal wrongly disallowed for offside. In addition, strikers David Villa and Lionel Messi were imprecise in front of goal.

Right-back Alves made it 1-0 in the 17th minute with a screaming volley from outside the penalty area, after the Getafe defence had failed to clear a corner.

Five minutes into the second half, Bojan put away the second goal, which killed off Getafe's lingering hopes of springing a surprise. Messi fed Bojan down the right and the youngster's left-foot shot went in with the help of a deflection off defender Cata Diaz.

Barca should have finished off Getafe with a third goal but wasted chances to do so. Just two minutes from time, Manu del Moral scored for Getafe by volleying in a centre from Victor Sanchez, which meant that Barca had to play out time rather nervously.

In Saturday's early match, Zaragoza suffered a luckless 1-0 defeat at midtable Mallorca.

Zaragoza, who were relegated in 2002 and 2008, seem to be in for another relegation struggle after this defeat. They are currently sixth from bottom but could fall down to fourth from bottom in the weekend's other results go against them.

They seemed to be heading for a draw until disaster struck in the 65th minute, when goalkeeper Toni Doblas was correctly sent off for handling outside the penalty area, with Pierre Webo preparing to score.

Just two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for Javier Aguirre's troubled team when Mallorca's Jonathan de Guzman scored the only goal with a classy free-kick.

Zaragoza battled for an equalizer from then on but their foul luck continued. Substitute Braulio almost snatched a draw for them in injury-time but his shot came back off the crossbar.

Djokovic beats Federer to seize number two ranking

Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer for the third time in three months Saturday, with his 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 semi-final win at the Indian Wells Masters enough to return the Serb to a world number two ranking.

Djokovic, undefeated at 17-0 this season, is now on the cusp of his third trophy from as many events after the Australian Open and Dubai victories earlier this year. He faces off Sunday for his second title at the desert venue against world number one Rafael Nadal.

   "It makes me feel great, it makes me feel very happy," said the winner. "It's the crown for my achievements this year. I think I deserve it. I've played the best tennis of my life in last three months.

   "I've been very dedicated, very professional, and I want to keep on going."

   Nadal, the Spanish top seed, overcame a slow start to defeat Argentine Juan Del Potro 6-4, 6-4 earlier Saturday.

   Federer, now 0-3 against Djokovic in 2011, owns Indian Wells titles from 2004-2006. The Swiss had a poor day on serve, broken twice in the first set and three times in the third after going up a break on Djokovic.

 "I had my chances today. It was a good match, played at a high level," said a relaxed Federer. "I know I wasn't far away at all today, because I really had him going.

   "But look, I guess he escaped. I guess confidence is a big thing for him at the moment. I'm sure it's gonna be a good final tomorrow."

   Federer stands 18-3 on the season, and still leads the series against Djokovic 13-9, but took his last victory over the Serb at the London year-end finals in November.

   "It's really important to get the upper hand in some part of the match against the opponent like Roger," said Djokovic. "And when you have the chance, you better use it, because he can come back easily. I could feel that."

   Nadal beat Argentine Del Potro for the fifth time in eight meetings. The number 90 Argentine is coming back after missing most of 2010 due to wrist surgery. He won the 2009 US Open over Federer. Nadal has not won a title since Tokyo last October.

   "I was playing fantastic before the season, and when I started in Abu Dhabi," said Nadal. "I had a few problems there in the leg, in Australia, and have a virus in Doha.

   "To come back after one month and a few more days outside of competition is fantastic news for me. It's really, really important this coming back. Winning matches like today is how you can return to your highest level."

   Nadal improved his Indian Wells record to 31-4.

   Del Potro started with an early break of top seed Nadal, but the Spaniard calmly reversed the momentum and won the last five games to sweep the set. In the second, Nadal got on top with a break in the fifth game and rolled onto the victory in just under two hours, with four aces and three breaks of serve.

   Nadal said he was ready for Djokovic in the Sunday final.

   "We know each other 100 per cent. These kind of matches are always the same, the player playing better at the moment will win," he said. "In my opinion, the player with the better inspiration that day is the player who's going to have better chances to win."

Indian Wells: Federer d. Andreev

Judging from their history, Roger Federer and Igor Andreev were looking at a competitive match in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. The two, separated by two years in age—Federer is 29 and Andreev is 27—have played only three times, but all were in best-of-five set matches. Federer won each encounter, but Andreev took one of the first three sets from Federer each time.

Federer avoided that position on Sunday with a straight-sets victory, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
The first set was a story of missed chances early on. Federer had love-30 at 2-all and 3-all but couldn’t get the break, despite holding two break points on the second occasion—on the first chance, he missed a forehand that tipped the net and went wide.
Finally, at 5-all, Federer broke through to love with an equal measure of winners and unforced errors, and served out the set in four points, finishing with an ace.
Andreev has dropped from a career high of No. 18 in 2008 to No. 96, while Federer still inhabits one of the top two positions in the game. The disparity looked like it might play out in the second set when Federer broke in the opening game and soon had a 2-0 lead. But, after going up 30-love on serve at 2-1, he lost eight points in a row and Andreev, given an opening, took it and soon led 3-2.
The Russian loves to pound his forehand and began to take some big cuts on it, as well as with his backhand. The set became very competitive, and three times Federer had to defend 30-30 on his serve before it finally went to a tiebreak.
Andreev hit a forehand long on the very first point. Federer then won two points on his serve and was a net cord, in Andreev’s favor, away from taking a 4-0 lead. In keeping with his go-for-broke style of play, Andreev pulled off a monster forehand winner at 3-2 to level the tiebreak. But at 4-4, Andreev’s evil twin shanked a forehand long, giving Federer the opening he needed. Two more errors from the Russian wrapped up the match in an hour and 34 minutes.
There were a few patches during this contest when Federer lost touch with his best form, but on balance it was a very positive performance for an opening-rounder—although he did have the advantage of playing doubles on Friday when he and partner Stanislas Wawrinka eliminated second seeds Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi, 6-1, 6-2.
The serving numbers were bad and good for Federer—a poor first-serve percentage of 54 percent, but an excellent 92 percent of first-serve points won.
What might have been most reassuring for Federer was his backhand down the line. With Andreev ever eager to go far to his left to whale his inside-out forehand, Federer kept him honest by hitting a number of effective backhands down the line. It is a bit of a barometer shot early in a tournament.
“I think I played really well for a first round,” the Swiss said afterward. “It was a fun match.”
Next up for him on Tuesday will be Juan Ignacio Chela. He is 5-0 against the No. 32-ranked Argentine, 31, and has lost just one set in those matches.

Italy's decline deepens as giants Milan leave Europe

A glum debate has followed the elimination this week of AC Milan and Roma from the Champions League, leaving holders Inter Milan to face an uphill battle for the quarter-finals next week.

At first sight, Roma's 3-0 hammering by Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, following a 3-2 defeat in Rome, was the most bitter pill to swallow.

Seven-time champions Milan were eliminated only on a 1-0 aggregate after drawing 0-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Wednesday, but it should be considered that, while Roma are going through a rather bad season, the seven-time European champions currently lead the Italian Serie A.

The Giallorossi from Rome added to their poor performance several harsh, gratuitous fouls that only mired their image as they left the continental arena.

Violent play also seems to have become a trademark of the Rome side, whose players have collected seven suspensions in the current Serie A season, where they lie sixth.

French defender Philippe Mexes was dismissed in Donetsk, while his captain Daniele De Rossi is in for a long suspension - and a fine from his club - when ruling body UEFA looks at his televised off-the-ball elbowing of an opponent.

New Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri, meanwhile, tried to allay a third elimination in the round of 16 after triumphs in 2003 and 2007.

"Nobody thought that we were not going to score, looking at the chances we managed to create (at Tottenham)," Allegri said. "This is part of the game and we are to comment on a somewhat false result."

This season, however, Milan's performance in Europe was far from encouraging from the start.

They qualified as second in the group phase with the lowest eight-point tally, and with seven goals scored and as many conceded.

Inter and Roma did not fare better as they also qualified as second, with 12-11 and 10-11 goal records respectively.

Italian commentators were not overly critic of Milan, but noted that football is about scoring, and wondered at the ineffectiveness of stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Pato on the continental stage.

"With honour, but without goals," titled Milanese daily Il Corriere della Sera, while La Gazzetta dello Sport headlined, "Milan dry their tears," focusing on the sadness of veteran and four-time trophy winner Clarence Seedorf.

In general, however, and despite Inter's recent triumph, the Italian trend has headed downward lately, as testified by the five-year-based coefficient of ruling body UEFA.

Italy's demotion from third place appears inevitable to the advantage of Germany, who will go from three to four clubs in the 2012-13 Champions League.

To complete a dismal picture of the season, Sampdoria did not go past the preliminary round of the Champions League and are already out of the Europa League alongside Palermo, Juventus and Napoli.

Inter have a 1-0 home defeat to reverse away to Bayern Munich, but even a second straight success in the tournament is unlikely to prevent the Serie A from sending only three teams to the elite tournament. 

Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (4-3 Agg.): Lionel Messi Leads Blaugrana Past 10-Man Gunners

Messi scored twice and Xavi once as Barcelona capitalised on Robin van Persie's red card.

A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League for a second consecutive season as a 3-1 second leg win over the 10-man Gunners wrapped up a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Messi made the most of a Cesc Fabregas mistake in first half stoppages to break the deadlock, but a Segio Busquets own goal put Arsenal back ahead in the tie on aggregate. Robin van Persie was sent off after kicking the ball away when on a yellow card and Barca added further goals through Xavi and Messi's penalty.

The Blaugrana started as they meant to by dominating the early possession and Laurent Koscielny was booked for bringing down Pedro as he advanced towards goal. From the resulting free-kick, Wojciech Szczesny failed to gather cleanly and appeared to break a finger, and the Pole had to be replaced by Manuel Almunia.

The home domination continued, and the Gunners breathed a sigh of relief when Abou Diaby’s clear foul on Messi just inside the area went unpunished by the referee.

The almost inevitable breakthrough eventually came from a surprise source in the first half injury time. Cesc Fabregas tried to play a backheel close to his own box and saw the ball intercepted by Iniesta, who chipped a pass into the channel for Lionel Messi to lift over the advancing Almunia before volleying into the unguarded net.

Arsenal got a leveller against the run of play early in the second half to send them back ahead on aggregate when a corner from the left by Samir Nasri was missed at the near post, and when three Barcelona players went up together to clear, Sergio Busquets headed the ball into his own net.
But within minutes the Gunners were rocked by a red card for Robin van Persie. Having already been booked for throwing an arm at Dani Alves late in the first half, the Dutchman responded to an offside flag by sending in a right foot shot which referee Massimo Busacca considered a time-wasting act, and Arsenal were down to 10 men.
The weight of the pressure on the away side told when Xavi was allowed to walk straight through the left channel of their defence to beat Almunia, and within two minutes Barcelona were awarded a penalty when Koscielny brought down Pedro. Lionel Messi stepped up to fire in his sixth goal in two home games against the Gunners and put Barca 4-3 up on aggregate.

Though Barca had further chances through Ibrahim Afellay and Dani Alves, Arsenal could have won the tie when Nicklas Bendtner went through the middle, but he failed to get a shot away before Victor Valdes and Busquets foiled the danger.

The win sends Barcelona into the quarter-finals as they continue their assault on a second treble in three years, while Arsenal's potential quadruple has been reduced to a two-pronged attack on the Premier League and FA Cup.

Nadal retains top spot in rankings

Spain's Rafael Nadal continued to lead an unchanged top 10 in the ATP men's tennis rankings issued Monday.

   Nadal has a clear lead over Roger Federer of Switzerland and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

   ATP top 10 as of March 7 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Rafael Nadal, Spain, 12,390 2. (2) Roger Federer, Switzerland, 7,965 3. (3) Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 7,880 4. (4) Robin Soderling, Sweden, 6,055 5. (5) Andy Murray, Britain, 5,715 6. (6) David Ferrer, Spain, 4,510 7. (7) Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,410 8. (8) Andy Roddick, United States, 3,770 9. (9) Fernando Verdasco, Spain, 3,095 10. (10) Juergen Melzer, Austria, 2,740 

Kuyt nets hat-trick as Liverpool humble Manchester United

Dirk Kuyt scored a hat-trick as Liverpool humbled leaders Manchester United 3-1 on Sunday, further denting the leaders' hopes of winning the English Premier League title.

Five days after their 2-1 defeat at Chelsea, United were second- best again as Liverpool produced an outstanding performance to move back into the top six themselves.

Kuyt's goals were scored from a total distance of about three yards but the Dutchman did not care as he scored the first Liverpool hat-trick in this fixture since 1990, rendering Javier Hernandez's injury-time goal a mere consolation.
United remain three points clear at the top, though Arsenal in second have played a game less. Liverpool climb to sixth, five points behind Tottenham Hotspur, who were due to play at Wolverhampton Wanderers later on Sunday.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson left Darren Fletcher in favour of the experience of Paul Scholes while Wes Brown and Chris Smalling filled the centre of defence in the absence of the injured Nemanja Vidic and injured captain Rio Ferdinand.

Nadal puts Spain in control in Davis Cup tie

World number one Rafael Nadal made a successful comeback from injury to give Spain the perfect start in their Davis Cup tie against Belgium.

Nadal beat Ruben Bemelmans, ranked 144 in the world, 6-2 6-4 6-2 to give Spain a 2-0 lead.

It was his first match since damaging a leg muscle in his Australian Open quarter-final defeat by compatriot David Ferrer at the end of January.

Earlier, Fernando Verdasco beat Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-3 6-1.

World number nine Verdasco had replaced the injured Ferrer.

The doubles match in the best-of-five tie is on Saturday with the reverse singles on Sunday.

Nadal, the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion wrapped up victory in less than two hours in Charleroi when the Belgian went wide with an attempted winner.

Next week can wait as Wenger focuses on Sunderland

Arsenal cannot be distracted by looming clashes with Barcelona and Manchester United when they play Sunderland in the Premier League, manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday.

Arsenal travel next week to Barcelona in the Champions League and United in the FA Cup quarter-finals but with the league title now back in their hands they must not slip up on Saturday against a team who held them to a 1-1 draw earlier this season.

"It is, until now, the biggest week in the season but if you want a big week in your life you must start well and we start with Sunderland," Wenger told a news conference on Friday.

"We will go for that game without thinking about anything else. Our focus is on Sunderland and the championship is our massive target."

United's defeat at Chelsea means Arsenal are four points behind with a game in hand, and still have to host Alex Ferguson's team who face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

"The league is a vital race -- for us, the most important," he said. "It will be interesting until the end of the season.

"It depends on us and how consistent we are. That will decide the championship. We have been on a very good run if you look at our last 10 games and if we maintain our consistency we have a chance."

It is the opposite for Sunderland who, after some impressive results earlier in the season, have lost their last four league games.

"Their confidence has dropped so let's take advantage of that," said Wenger. "We will try to test them, put them under pressure and score goals. I am confident we can always score."

Arsenal bounced back from Sunday's League Cup defeat by Birmingham City to thrash Leyton Orient 5-0 in the FA Cup and Wenger said he was delighted with the attitude of his players.

"You could see on Wednesday that this team is mentally very strong and hungry for success," he said.

"How they responded from the disappointment of Sunday is remarkable."

Messi grabs late win for Barca at Valencia

Lionel Messi missed a slew of chances before squeezing home a late strike to give Barcelona a 1-0 win at third-placed Valencia in La Liga on Wednesday and stretch the champions lead over Real Madrid to 10 points.

With Barca looking like they might drop points for only the fourth time this season, Messi struck a low shot in the 77th minute at the Mestalla that spun just inside the post off the outstretched arm of Valencia goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

It was the World Player of the Year and La Liga top scorer's 27th of the season and lifted Barca to 71 points from 26 matches. They have now won 12 of their 13 away matches, drawing last month at Sporting Gijon in their only slip-up on the road.

Real can trim the gap to seven with a win at Malaga on Thursday, when the Andalusian club's coach Manuel Pellegrini returns to the Bernabeu to face the man who replaced him at Real at the end of last season, Jose Mourinho.

Tennis-Djokovic beats Federer for Dubai title

Defending champion Novak Djokovic won his third consecutive title at the Dubai championships when he defeated top seed Roger Federer 6-3 6-3 in just 71 minutes on Saturday.

It is the 20th title of his career and his second of the year after he won the Australian Open in January.

The second seeded Serbian is the only player apart from four-time champion Federer to have won the title three times, following Federer victories in 2003-5 and 2007.

He has now won 15 straight matches in Dubai and is enjoying a career-best 14-match winning streak dating back to December's Davis Cup final.

Federer looked the weaker player from the start and Djokovic surrendered just four points on serve in the opening set.

Djokovic was also aggressive from the baseline and he swiftly earned the first break of serve to lead 2-1 when Federer mis-hit a backhand wide.

Djokovic continued to pile on the pressure as Federer struggled to find a rhythm and he held two break points for a 4-1 lead. Although Federer held him off in that game, Djokovic broke again for the set when he forced Federer to net a backhand.

Federer broke to lead 2-1 in the second set, but his revival was short-lived.

A netted smash on break point allowed Djokovic to level at 3-3 and a backhand error from the Swiss gave him a further break for 5-3 as the Serb swept on towards his latest title.

Red Bull team up with carmakers Infiniti

The Renault-powered Red Bull Racing team have announced a new agreement with Infiniti, the luxury Japanese car brand owned by Renault partners Nissan. The deal, which covers the 2011 and 2012 Formula One seasons, will focus on high-profile marketing and technical activities.

As part of the agreement, Infiniti will have a high-profile branding presence on the Red Bull car, their drivers’ clothing and related team uniforms and equipment. Red Bull will continue to use Renault engines for the next two seasons, during which time Infiniti will work with Renault to forge a future technical collaboration with the team.

“Red Bull has always taken a different approach, so when the Infiniti executives outlined their innovative plan to us we were very open to working with them,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who was instrumental in pulling the agreement together. “Coming off the back of our 2010 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships, we feel even more excited to be starting the 2011 season with a new and committed partner like Infiniti.”

Andy Palmer, Senior Vice President, Infiniti commented: “Over the mid-term, Infiniti will be simultaneously expanding its global presence and broadening its product range. Given these twin ambitions, it is clear that Formula One offers us an unrivalled global communications platform, complementing Infiniti’s ethos of Inspired Performance. We are excited to have the opportunity to enter Formula One together with a world-class team like Red Bull Racing Renault.”

Bernard Rey, President of Renault Sport F1 further endorsed the new deal: “While Renault is rightfully very proud of our achievements within Formula One, we know the future is about collaboration. To have a talented and committed Alliance partner like Infiniti is very welcome as we set out on the current and future challenges in Formula One. So it is with great pleasure that I would like to welcome Andy Palmer and his entire team in our Formula One adventure, and I look forward to starting the 2011 season together as Alliance partners.”

Red Bull have used Renault power since 2007. Also running the same engines this season are the Renault team (now owned by Genii Capital) and Lotus.