Nando signs three-year contract with Beemer?

Obviously the headlines are dominated by Lewis Hamilton’s already infamous non-win at Spa on Sunday, but there was another XXL story to come out of a thrilling weekend in Belgium: Fernando Alonso is reportedly off to BMW Sauber in 2009, on a three-year contract.

Italian TV station Sky broke the story, although Alonso himself still refuses to make an official statement. “For weeks I have said I will only consider my future at the end of September. My priority at the moment is to help Renault to fourth place in the constructors’ championship,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

Could this be that Alonso couldn’t get the commitment he wanted from Ferrari and blinked first? BMW has the potential - and the budget - to compete for the world title next season, so it seems the Spaniard has decided that moving to the German team is his best chance to win a third championship, rather than spending a gap year at Honda before joining Ferrari in 2010.

The obvious scenario would see Alonso replace Nick Heidfeld, but if Ferrari lose faith in Kimi Raikkonen and make a sudden move for Robert Kubica (not an impossible move - BMW hasn’t confirmed that Kubica or Heidfeld will drive for them in 2009), then we may yet be watching Alonso and Heidfeld as team-mates next year.