10/08/2005
NEWS STORY
The man behind the popular TV series One Foot in The Grave, David Renwick, had previously written the excellent, but widely overlooked Hot Metal, a comedy based on the seedy world of tabloid journalism.
In one particular episode, the newspaper around which events are centred, The Crucible, is forced to print an apology having made an outrageous claim about some poor soul. Rather than giving the apology prominence, the editor, Russell Spam, opts to place the apology in amongst the clues for the crossword: 7 across - "We're sorry".
The Pitpass team couldn't help but recall this moment when perusing the latest edition of Business F1, where, tucked away on page 696 is an apology to Alan Donnelly, the official representative of the FIA at Formula One Grands Prix.
Business F1 had previously claimed that Donnelly had obtained exorbitant and undeserved sums from the FIA in the form of 11.05 million euros (£7.6m) over the previous three years, and that these monies had been diverted to Sovereign Strategy Ltd, for his own personal use.
Mr Justice Eady was to rule that the allegations which Business F1 published were false and defamatory, and consequently ordered the magazine to pay Mr Donnelly damages and his legal costs.
Needless to say, Business F1 withdraws the allegations, will pay the damages and costs and has agreed not to make such allegations again.
It's believed that there are several other suits pending as Business F1 continues to get up the noses of various people within the pitlane. In this month's issue, Max Mosley takers his regular hit, while WilliamsF1 driver, Mark Webber, has clearly done something to p*** off Mr Rubython and friends.
There are some who feel that Business F1 is actually doing damage to Formula One, and turning off potential sponsors, investors and even technical partners with its constant claims that the sport is corrupt and that the teams, FOM and - worst of all - the FIA is peopled by charlatans and much worse.