02/05/2006
NEWS STORY
"Prezza: the sex diaries", "Lost star's gay frenzy", "Love split Elle has the hots for property tycoon" and "Sex text Gary to split from wife".
These are just a selection of the seedy headlines from Sunday's edition of the News of the World (NOTW), which along with (sister paper) The Sun surely represents the very worst in British tabloid journalism.
In the old days, the NOTW was looked upon with a certain degree of mild amusement with its 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' stories regarding naughty nurses and vulgar vicars, not to mention its plethora of advertisements for 'surgical appliances'.
Nowadays however, its content is not quite so amusing, be it the so-called 'fake-Sheikh' who has used entrapment in the name of journalism, not to mention its extremely dubious name and shame campaign.
Nonetheless, the NOTW and The Sun remain Britain's most popular newspapers, and sadly many readers still believe every word they read.
This week, the NOTW took time out from the Prezza sex diaries and (Lost star) Michelle Rodriguez' alleged "gay frenzy" to look at the ongoing debate regarding the legality of Ferrari's aerodynamics.
"The speed of the Ferrari at the end of each sector is amazing," Honda's technical director Geoff Willis told the newspaper. "I feel we have enough video evidence to demonstrate their rear wing flexes."
"There is something Geoff has been aware of and it is in the hands of Charlie now," added Nick Fry, referring to the fact that Willis has mentioned his concern in a letter to the FIA's technical delegate, Charlie Whiting.
Elsewhere, Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn, clearly tired of the whole sorry saga, warned that his team is prepared to protest anyone that protests the Maranello outfit, and that should it be necessary the Italian outfit will protest every one of its rivals.
Referring to Willis' video evidence - not in the usual News of the World sense we trust - Brawn told Auto Motor und Sport: "We have videos of every car in the field, showing that aerodynamic devices bend. If all you look at our videos, "then every car out there is illegal."
With several teams modifying their wings for Melbourne, it was thought (hoped) that the issue had gone away, and any discussions the Pitpass has had with the FIA have appeared to confirm this. According to the FIA there is not an issue. Indeed, a source told Pitpass that "quiet words" were had with a number of teams, and the situation was resolved. Certainly, the FIA has never been seriously concerned regarding the subject of illegal wings.
However, thanks to the best efforts of one or two people in the pitlane, not to mention certain sections of the media, the issue is now back in the spotlight.
It is to be hoped, especially with the United States Grand Prix just two months away, that we are not about to witness F1 descend to farce once again, with all manner of teams protesting one another.
Therefore, in the hope that our sport might retain some sort of credibility we call on the FIA to act accordingly and for the situation to be resolved, either way. If Ferrari, or indeed any other team is using illegal wings then action must be taken. However, if other teams are making waves and deliberately causing trouble, then surely they are bringing the sport into disrepute.