The calculations are simple for Sebastien Vettel as he chases victory in the Japanese Grand Prix to secure a fourth straight Formula One championship.

If Vettel wins at Suzuka on Sunday, and his nearest rival Fernando Alonso finishes worse than eighth, the German driver will join his compatriot Michael Schumacher and Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio as the only men to win four consecutive titles. And if he does it in Japan, where he has won three of the last four GP races, he'll be the youngest in the exclusive list to achieve four straight titles.

Olympic champion Sally Pearson and her coach Sharon Hannan have ended a 14-year working relationship that produced gold medals for the Australian hurdler at the 2011 world championships and 2012 London Games.

Under Hannan's guidance, Pearson also recovered from two serious hamstring injuries to win a silver medal at the 2013 world titles in Moscow.

Andre Drummond had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 91-69 exhibition victory Tuesday over Maccabi Haifa, the reigning Israeli Basketball Super League champions.

David Cubillan scored 20 points for Maccabi.

Sunderland has hired Gus Poyet to fill the managerial void left by Paolo Di Canio's firing.

Poyet, a former Uruguay midfielder, has been out of work since being fired by English second-tier team Brighton in June.

Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez has become only the second player in NFL history to catch a pass in 200 consecutive games.

Gonzalez reached the milestone with a 6-yard reception on the fourth play of the Falcons' game against the New York Jets on Monday.

England will be without left back Ashley Cole for its penultimate World Cup qualifier against Montenegro on Friday.

Cole complained of a rib problem during Chelsea's Premier League victory at Norwich on Sunday and scans Monday confirmed he won't be fit for the match at Wembley Stadium.

FIFA plans to create an international league table of countries which have problems with racism and discrimination in sports.

At a United Nations forum on racism and football on Monday, FIFA delegate Tokyo Sexwale said the global "barometer" was central to the football governing body's work to tackle discrimination.

Nuremberg has fired coach Michael Wiesinger after a 5-0 loss at home to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga.

The club said the club's under-23 side coach Roger Prinzen will take the job provisionally until a new head coach is appointed.

Rafael Nadal was confirmed as the new world number one in the latest ATP tennis rankings published on Monday, pushing Novak Djokovic to second as Roger Federer drops to seventh.

Nadal has 11,160 points, just 40 ahead of Djokovic, who lost his grip on the top spot despite defeating the Mallorcan to win the China Open on Sunday.

Four-time IndyCar Series champ Dario Franchitti fractured his spine in a spectacular crash during the final lap of the Houston Grand Prix that was won by Will Power.

The Scotsman's injuries also included a broken right ankle and a concussion, said IndyCar's head of medical services Michael Olinger.