02/08/2006
NEWS STORY
As Mel Gibson knows to his cost, thanks to the Internet, things are different these days.
A few years back, had he been done for drink driving, and subsequently allegedly abusing the arresting officer, it would have taken a day or two for the matter to make it into the papers, and by the time the major international news services had got hold of the story, a few phone calls would have been made, palms greased, apologies made, and the issue would have been dead and buried before anyone knew anything about it.
In these days of the World Wide Web however, the American born actor's drunken shenanigans were on the web within hours, complete with mug shot and arrest report(s) (all versions).
Within 24-hours of the incident, websites such as The Smoking Gun and TMZ had the low down, and the first (joke) viral e-mails were being prepared.
In the old days the studios would have hushed up the matter, almost at source, now, in the age of the internet, they are already claiming that his career is over.
According to who you believe, another person whose career is over is former World Champion, Jacques Villeneuve.
Following the issuing of a press release on Tuesday evening, in which BMW revealed that the Canadian would miss the Hungarian GP following his accident at Hockenheim, the World Wide Web has gone into overdrive, with claims that the former champion has been fired, that his career is over.
Ignoring the usual histrionics on bulletin boards and forums, one shouldn't be too surprised to see British tabloid The Sun claiming that Villeneuve has been "dumped", backing up its report with the revelation that the BMW driver "crashed twice at Hockenheim last week, including one that put out team-mate Nick Heidfeld".
ITV, the British F1 broadcaster, on its Teletext service, also refers to the first lap incident at Hockenheim, but makes no reference to BMW's claim that Villeneuve informed the team that he was not ready to race after the accident, but instead 'informs' viewers that "the team have promoted Kubica to the race squad as a result".
Other than some dubious reporting, the situation is not helped by the ambiguous comment Mario Theissen made in the press release, when he said: "We have not yet made a decision on who will drive the car either in the remaining races of the season or next year."
Talking moments after the accident at Hockenheim, Villeneuve said he felt "ok", though, as we have seen many times over the years it is quite common for the real aches and pains to appear days later. Therefore, we shouldn't be reading too much into the fact that the Canadian has chosen to sit out this weekend's race, on a circuit he isn't particularly fond of.
Contacted by Pitpass, BMW wasn't giving too much away this morning, but is clearly aware of the speculation: "Of course there is speculation, but it is quite simple," said a spokesman. "On the driver-line-up for the race in Istanbul the team will decide after Budapest...
"And after talking to JV," he added.
Therefore, it is way too early to be saying that Villeneuve has been "dumped", and though Mario Theissen's comment raised more questions than it answered, perhaps we should all take a deep breathe before assuming that the Canadian is heading off to NASCAR or embarking on a world tour to promote "Accepterais-tu?".