Digger: Williams Suffer Fresh Bout of Road Rage

If Sir Frank Williams hoped a complete change of drivers for 2005 would eradicate the tensions that raged so publicly between Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya last season, the British team principal appears mistaken.

Only a matter of days into the Williams winter testing programme, their new recruit Mark Webber has already been warned to lay off his criticism of Antonio Pizzonia, the young Brazilian who is currently favourite to be Webber's team-mate next season, having partnered him at Jaguar in 2003 until being ditched in mid-season.

When asked earlier this week to respond to Pizzonia's suggestion that he had only lost out to Webber at Jaguar because he did not have equal equipment, the Australian said: "He knows he has been telling lies. He says the car was different from mine? It's bullshit but if he really thinks so he's a loser. The truth is Antonio was fast in testing but couldn't do as well in the races."

Williams is now understood to have issued Webber with a verbal reprimand and suggested he moderates his views - in public, at least.

Meanwhile, organisers of the Sports Journalists' Association annual awards luncheon, compiling a 2004 video highlights package for this year's bash in London on December 15, were keen to include some action of Jenson Button during his successful formula one campaign.

But it seems he will not be appearing after the sport's commercial authorities apparently asked for a £3,000 fee for a minute's footage. That was in contrast to most other organisations, who provided action free of charge.

Reward put up for missing Olympic official

A Serbian Olympic official, whose son was among those exposed by the BBC's Panorama as claiming he could influence the decision of where the 2012 games would be hosted, is still unaccounted for after going missing 10 months ago.

Artur Takac, an adviser to the former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, disappeared in February while he was on an unaccompanied skiing trip in the Serbian mountains. Rumours have been circulating that Takac, who would now be 87, was kidnapped or murdered but police do not believe this was the case.

Takac's son, Goran, has now put up a £7,000 reward for any information about his father, who was best remembered for organising the 1984 winter Olympics in Sarajevo. "We want to be able to bury him to say farewell properly," said Goran Takac.

Goran, an Olympic agent, said his own problems had nothing to do with the disappearance. He was declared persona non grata by the IOC after the BBC filmed him and three other agents talking about their ability to buy the votes of Olympic members to help London win the games. He has denied the allegation.

Britain gives grant to Zimbabwe

The government may not currently encourage sporting links with Zimbabwe but that has not stopped the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from giving the country a £3,000 grant earlier this year to help promote football in the country.

The sum was revealed in figures released by the FCO to the House of Lords showing which sporting and recreational programmes they have supported since 2001.

Other schemes they have helped fund include £2,000 to youth-football coaching in Qatar, an oil-rich Middle Eastern country, £3,500 for snooker in Cambodia, £1,248 to aid baseball development in Cuba, £8,000 for promoting cricket in Belize and £250,000 to set up the Football United project in Iraq.

Probably the strangest grant they gave, though, was the £100 for sponsorship of the 2001 FA Cup final on Ivory Coast television.

The vote for the male sportsman of the year, for which the favourites include Matthew Pinsent, Andrew Flintoff, Colin Montgomery and Wayne Rooney, has thrown up an interesting outsider. Three votes have been cast for Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics, who retired as an active athlete in 1990.

Fergie pops his cork too soon

Alex Ferguson might have jumped the gun when he celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of United against Lyon a fortnight ago. It seems United forgot to take into account the two games he missed over the years - Boro in 1998 because of a bereavement and Manchester City in 2000 for the marriage of his son. So to put the record straight he reached the mark against Arsenal in midweek. Congratulations, Sir Alex.