Canadian F1 Star Jacques Villeneuve in the Hot Seat

Admitting that the French Canadian hasn't been given his fair chance behind the wheel, Sauber finished his comments by

JV is showing the maturity of a seasoned driver, driving the C24 as quickly as he can without hitting the wall and costing his team boss a great deal of money. (Photo: Sauber Petronas)

suggesting that, "Jacques needs every lap he can get."

Truly, he hasn't had the track time to set up the C24, and therefore doesn't feel comfortable pushing it to its limits; limits he won't know are there until he finds them, suddenly and with dire consequences no doubt.

Instead he's showing the maturity of a seasoned driver, driving the C24 as quickly as he can without hitting the wall and costing his team boss a great deal of money, the opposite of how Massa raced his Sauber since his debut with the team, and potentially costing him his life - motor racing isn't a non-contact sport and its history is filled with untimely deaths, JV's father Gilles Villeneuve's on-track death being one of the darkest days in motorsport history.

So why has JV been singled out by the press for the axe? Is this anti-JV banter much ado about nothing, fabricated news created merely as fodder to feed the masses of hungry F1 fans? While it seems that the same reporters that appreciated JV for his candid responses to pointed questions in the past have now turned against him

Is this anti-JV banter much ado about nothing, fabricated news created merely as fodder to feed the masses of hungry F1 fans? (Photo: Sauber Petronas)

in his hour of need, some of the reporting is a great deal more underhanded than this.

Underhanded? Let me explain. The British, intensely proud of their motorsport heritage and especially keen to see their own on the podium, or at least on the grid with the potential for future podiums, are hoping for yet another countryman to enter the F1 fold as a full-time driver, this time third-driver (tester) Anthony Davidson. Rumours were ripe, as previously mentioned by Peter Sauber, even after the first race in Melbourne that "Ant" would soon replace JV, with news stories being printed in less reputable magazines and websites by misguided journalists looking to stir up the prognostication mill.