A pathetic tale of fractured, precious egos.

Best Mates
By pitpass.com
March 20 2003

As predicted, the war of words between BAR team-'mates' Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button is hotting up. In the days that followed the Melbourne event made use of the media to snipe back at his Canadian team-mate.

If you recall, Villeneuve pitted on the same lap as his English team-mate, costing him 13s and the possibility of a points finish. Button sniping culminated in an article in the Sunday Mail in which he cast doubt on the team's official excuse that the Canadian had suffered a radio problem.

At today's press conference the English youngster again made it clear that he was still highly sceptical and warned that it mustn't happen again.

Throughout, team boss David Richards has kept a low profile suggesting that rivalry between team-mates is good.

Today Villeneuve made it clear that he is less than impressed with the way the matter has been handled and in particular Button's decision to run to the press.

"I was just highly, highly disappointed to be blasted by my team-mate in the media when coming out of the car he was all smiley and shaking hands and everything," Villeneuve told BBC's Radio Five Live. "I found that a little bit weak," he added, "but I guess that's what I have to cope with now, a weak team-mate.

"I think it is very important for a driver to be self-critical before he starts blaming everybody else," he added. "If you spend your career thinking about what might have been then you never achieve anything and that is a little bit what has been happening through Jenson's career.

"There will not be a kiss and make-up," he warned, "but we will talk, because that cannot go on.

"But it is also the team's job to make sure that stuff like that doesn't go on in press releases," he added, a statement that pitpass fully supports, "so the marketing and media department of the team was not up to standard by allowing that to happen.

Whatever happened in Melbourne should have been investigated internally at the time and the matter dealt with there and then. Despite Villeneuve's comments ever since Button joined BAR, comparing the former WillaimsF1 and Renault driver to a 'boy band', the Englishman should not have been allowed to make the comments he did, casting serious doubt on Villeneuve's integrity, in a newspaper article that he is supposed to have written.

At this particular time in history the public squabbling of these two over-paid poseurs is totally out of order and is in danger of making the sport even more of a laughing stock than it already is thanks to the carry on in 2002.

Shame on everyone involved in this pathetic tale of fractured, precious egos.

This article was written by pitpass.com, and is used with permission.