Press Snoop: Gordon to F1, award for Schumi.

Jeff Gordon to race Formula One with Williams? If you believe Dave Despain, of SPEED TV's Wind Tunnel call-in talk show, the idea is under serious consideration.

Everything is based on second-hand information filtering out of the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend in Barcelona. Gordon supposedly said - either purposefully or inadvertently - that he would seriously consider an offer from Williams, at which point Bernie Ecclestone hastily called a meeting with Frank Williams.

A follow-up meeting was said to have happened back in the States this week. Ecclestone, eager to have an American in Formula One, is said to be willing to subsidise Gordon's salary, despite the NASCAR ace having a lifetime contract with Hendrick Motorsports.

A little more background from my learned British colleague, Mark Cole, on the cult classic Rendezvous, which was shot in 1973 in Paris by Claude Lelouche. After he filmed the highly successful A Man and a Woman, Lelouche bought himself a Ferrari 275 GTB with some of the profits. He also had some film stock left over and, so word has it, he strapped a movie camera to the side of his car, and let an unnamed Formula One driver loose on the streets of Paris in the dawn's early light on a Sunday morning.

Although many thought the driver was Jean-Pierre Jarier, no-one ever publicly identified the driver, possibly because the French gendarmes still have an open file on the case. And, since the film was made, some so-called Dutch sound experts have tried to prove it wasn't a Ferrari at all....

Current Ferrari driver, and six-time F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher was again named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year - his fourth nomination in five years, and his second consecutive victory.

Schumacher was not present at the Monday night awards ceremony, held at the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon, but he was taped receiving the award from Bernie Ecclestone at an earlier date.

The other nominees in the sportsman of the year category were Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Michael Phelps, Valentino Rossi and Jonny Wilkinson.

The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 to honour the achievements of the world's greatest sportsmen and sportswomen on an annual basis, and also contribute to social change through the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The founding patrons of the awards are DaimlerChrysler and Richemont, represented by Mercedes-Benz and Cartier.

The winners are selected by a 41-person ultimate sports jury, including racer Emerson Fittipaldi, who was at the Lisbon ceremony. A two-time F1 world champion, 'Emmo' congratulated Schumacher on his achievement.

"He has shown himself to be a remarkable athlete to win and keep on winning - that's the difficult part," the Brazilian said.

Among others in attendance at the ceremonies was McLaren F1 driver David Coulthard - complete with kilt. Also present was American actor/producer, Michael Douglas, who had come direct from the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Douglas said that he loved motorsports, and hoped there could be more excitement in Formula One racing.

The other winners were American golfer Michelle Wie who, at the age of 14, became the youngest ever Laureus winner, taking the Laureus World Newcomer of the Year title. It was a very popular win, and the second for women's golf as Sweden's Annika Sorenstam won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award.

Austrian skier Hermann Maier was named Laureus World Comeback of the Year after nearly losing his leg in a motorcycle accident before going on to win the Alpine World Cup. One of the nominees in that category was race driver Alex Zanardi, who has returned to racing after a horrific race accident in which he lost both legs above the knee.

Canadian track star Earle Connor won the Laureus Disabled Award for breaking four world records in six days - all with his left leg amputated above the knee, while Australian surfer Layne Beachley took the Alternative Sports Award for winning her sixth world championship - the only person to ever do so.

The Laureus World team of the Year was, unsurprisingly, awarded to the England rugby union team which beat Australia in the World Cup final, becoming the first northern hemisphere team to win the championship. The Ferrari Formula One team was also nominated.

Norwegian mountaineer Arne Naess was honoured with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award after he died in an accident in South Africa in January. The Laureus Sport for Good Award had joint winners - Mathare Youth Sports Association, which was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize; and the India and Pakistan Cricket teams, who renewed sporting contacts after years of hostilities.

More than 350 million people watched the awards on television, but there were no viewers in the United States.