One of Britain's top sports journalists, Ian Wooldridge, has suggested that the spat between Villeneuve and Button has all the hallmarks of the sort of antics which precede a boxing match. It is, he argues, a ruse to drum up interest in Formula One and it has certainly generated a lot of newsprint.

I wish Ian Wooldridge was right, but I fear that he is dignifying the spat with more underlying intelligence than, I fear, is the case. We live in an age when some newspapers are hungry for any story, no matter how puerile, if a celebrity is involved. Jacques Villeneuve has earned his fame, you cannot argue with a World Championship, but Jenson Button is more or less his equal in eyes of the tabloid press. Button is young, unmarried and a multi-millionaire who is living a fast life and that means that that he is a celebrity.

Because Button is less a private man than Villeneuve, he is actually the bigger celebrity, when judged by the values of junk journalism. The spat between JB and JV is a product of the values of our time. When Jacques wants to upset a newcomer whose pace clearly worries him, he, or a minion in his entourage (you're nobody without an entourage) turns to the tabloid press. All top professional sports people these days are no longer individuals, they are corporations and commodities.

Girls, girls, girls, if you must be little bitches, if you want to psyche someone out, at least do it with a little style.

One of the mainstays of the pre-war Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team was Manfred von Brauchitsch. He came from an imperious Prussian family and was a nasty piece of work in many ways. He was a distant Number Three in the team, behind Rudolf Caracciola and, for several years, Luigi Fagioli.

M-B brought on Hermann Lang, a young mechanic from the racing team who had performed well in long-distance motorcycle trials. Lang was promoted because he was talented, everyone liked him and the idea of a working class mechanic becoming a Grand Prix star had attractive PR possibilities.

Von Brauchitsch was appalled that a private soldier had been made a member of the Officers' Mess. He signalled his displeasure by ordering Champagne for Caracciola and himself, and he bought a beer for Lang.

What Lang felt at this snub was never recorded. What he did was to build himself into fastest driver in the team. Nobody in motor racing remembers von Brauchitsch with any respect or affection, but Lang must be considered among the greats, even though he lost his best years to WWII and the international quarantine imposed on Germany and Germans until 1950.

Von Brauchitsch's treatment of Lang backfired, as did Nelson Piquet's treatment of Nigel Mansell. Williams does not impose team orders, but Frank expected Nelson to win races and Nigel to be solid backing. Then, after five full seasons in Formula One, always with a top team, Nigel won the 1985 European GP. After that there was no stopping him and Nelson did not like that one little bit. Nelson even said that Mrs. Mansell was 'ugly', which falls a little below the level of Oscar Wilde.