04/12/2004
NEWS STORY
During the on-line press conference that followed the announcement that Red Bull had bought Jaguar Racing, the British media was keen to discover if there was still a place at Milton Keynes for David Coulthard.
The Scot had had close talks with Jaguar before Ford pulled the plug and the (British) media wanted to know if the Scot still figured on Red Bull's 'radar'.
In much the same way that team boss Tony Purnell was never going to give away details of the financial side of the deal between Ford and Red Bull - despite persistent questioning - neither was he in a position to reveal the identity of the team's 2005 line-up, or even admit that the Scot was being seriously considered, despite the constant barrage of questions.
Sadly, there are not that many British sporting heroes at present. Jenson Button had a great season, agreed, but despite the looks, and the pop-singer girlfriend, he lacks charisma, and out of the cockpit appears a little awkward.. as anyone who saw him at a recent music biz awards ceremony will testify.
The British media is crying out for a new F1 hero, hopefully a dashing young gentleman in the mould of Damon, or better still another 'Our Nige', a new "people's champion".
And in a way, who can blame them, heroes sell newspapers, indeed they sell just about everything.
Earlier this year, after just a couple of races, there was serious talk that many of the leading British newspapers were losing interest in F1, as Michael Schumacher seemingly headed towards title number seven. There was talk of editors keeping journalists back at base rather than sending them around the world to cover yet another Schumacher victory. And then Jenson and BAR started making trips to the podium, suddenly the British media was in love with F1 again.
Now we fully understand this jingoistic attitude, the media in most countries will do exactly the same. That said, it seems that only in Britain does the media build up "a star", only to later decide that his, her or its fifteen minutes of fame is over and that the upstart must be brought back to earth with a bang, if not totally destroyed. When the British media takes a dislike to you, you're finished.
However, does this justify some of the coverage we've witnessed in recent days regarding Nick Heidfeld and his test with WilliamsF1?
At the end of his first day of testing with the Grove outfit at Jerez, the (mainly) British media gleefully ran headlines proclaiming that the German (noted) had finished 2.5s slower than Mark Webber.
OK, this was factually true, however, they failed to point out that Heidfeld was still acclimatising himself to the car, whereas Webber had driven the car a week earlier at Barcelona. Nor did they bother going into specifics, you know, minor details such as Webber set his best time on a drying track, while Heidfeld didn't run at that time. It was impossible to compare the two, but that didn't stop the media.
Headlines proclaimed that the German had been; "off the pace" and "disappointing", giving the appearance that the former F3000 champion had been out-paced and out-classed.
The following day, when in worse conditions Heidfeld was second quickest, out-pacing Antonio Pizzonia by 0.952s we didn't see headlines reflecting the fact. Though we did get an update from Webber as to what he thinks of the Brazilian.
National bias is all very well, however the fact that neither David Coulthard nor Anthony Davidson will be in the second WilliamsF1, isn't down to Heidfeld, Pizzonia or any other 'foreigner'. In Anthony's case it's down to contracts, while in the Scot's case the team clearly doesn't feel that he's right, that's WilliamsF1's prerogative.
Therefore, the British media has to accept that it will be a 'foreign chappie' in the second white and blue car, like it or not. Therefore will it please gracefully accept the fact and give both drivers - whoever they are - the same treatment.
Failing that, if the British media is so keen to see a new British hero on the grid, why not start investing in upcoming drivers, and put its money where its constantly loud mouth is.