Renault bosses quit team

Briatore and Symonds leave ahead of WMSC meeting

Last updated: 19th September 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Renault bosses quit team

Briatore: Sensationally quit

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Renault managing director Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds have sensationally quit the team.

The news was announced as the team revealed that they would not be challenging recent allegations made against them that Nelson Piquet Jnr was ordered to crash his car at last year's Singapore Grand Prix.

Despite Briatore's assertion of no wrongdoing, the swift departure of he and Symonds appears to point to their guilt.

Piquet Jnr, who was recently sacked by Renault following a poor season, subsequently revealed he was told to crash into a wall in order to facilitate victory for team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Renault then launched criminal proceedings - including those relating to an alleged blackmail attempt - against Piquet Jnr and his three-times world champion father.

However, it was reported earlier this week that both Symonds and Piquet Jnr would be granted immunity from punishment by the FIA if they provided details of the alleged race-fixing.

An investigation into the incident is already under way, with FIA president Max Mosley revealing on Tuesday that there was evidence to support Piquet's claim.

Charge

Renault bosses had been called to appear at an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Monday, which will now go ahead without them.

The WMSC may still impose severe sanctions on the team now they have chosen not to launch a defence.

The FIA charged Renault with "conspiring with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jnr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso".

Alonso went on to take the chequered flag at Formula One's first night race, his first victory for two years, and at a time when Renault were considering quitting the sport.

The French manufacturer will almost certainly plead for clemency from the FIA as they will claim the actions of two men should not affect the employment of nearly 700 other staff within the team.

The FIA have the power to exclude Renault from the championship, although it is anticipated such a strict penalty will not be administered.

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Comments (16)

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Ste Poulter says...

F1 is a joke and this sorry episode confirms it.This must surely bring into question the result of the 2008 F1 championship. Massa was easily winning the Singapore race when the fake accident took place. He ended the race with no points. If you took out this race from the results Hamilton would lose 3rd place, hence Massa would be 2008 champion. But obviously you could decide on numerous different outcomes of the race, eg. award points at time of crash etc,etc. But in my opinion anything that took place in that race after Piquet crashed is meaningless.

Posted 15:46 16th September 2009

Sarah Bradbury says...

Whilst I am shocked at the resignation of Briatore and Symonds and if the allegations are true it is only right they should go and their actions are deplorable, what I find more outstanding in this matter is the fact that Piquet (a world class driver) deliberately crashed to help the whinge bag known as Alonso out.. I'm sorry but who in their right mind would deliberately crash?? No amount of money offered would make me crash. Ruining my chances of future drives and earnings alone would stop me but the thought that something could go wrong and I could end up dead would put me right off.. The guy must be some kind of muppet for ever agreeing to it.. And Renault should not be allowed to get away with it

Posted 15:41 16th September 2009

Richard Swan says...

I find the whole idea of asking a driver to deliberately crash his car totally disgusting. Yes, cars are a lot safer now with crumple zones, HANS devices etc. but the life of a man is still being put on the line. I know Briatore and Symonds are guilty as hell in all of this BUT so is Nelson Piquet Jnr. He agreed to crash because he feared losing his drive and only blew the whistle when he lost his seat at Renault, If he had any true morals he would have quit Renault before the crash and blew the whistle then. If he had kept his seat then none of us would have been any the wiser to this dirty little secret.

Posted 15:36 16th September 2009

Andrew Hallworth says...

So far the 2009/2010 season of formula 1 has given me a head ache we have had the threat of a breakaway series the race for the control of the FIA , the defuser row and now the worst thing of all a team deliberately interfering with a race result by the actions of Piquet Jnr's crash, admitedly not his fault but if someone said to him jump into a fire would he do that? he should have used his common sense and dealt with the consequences later if they would have sacked him then he could have reported them rather than waiting nearly 12 months. i just hope F1 can survive this as it's a great sport to watch and follow.

Posted 15:35 16th September 2009

David Ravey says...

Well who would believe it.!!! An F1 team cheating.? What surprises me is that it has taken so long to find them out. Bennetton with Briatore cheated when they had Schumacher. The FIA have been cheating the public recently by "allowing" back of the pack teams to win, to jazz it up a bit, so that they can resume once again to let Ferrari be at the top, without losing the lucrative TV money. I only watch the start and finish now, as there is no element of sport attached to F1. Its all about the money.!!!!! David Ravey

Posted 15:13 16th September 2009

Jason Hill says...

This is a dark day for formula one and renault. if this is true then renault should have any points won, taken from them and be excluded from the championship

Posted 14:59 16th September 2009

Colin Martin says...

With the conspiracy almost certain, with the departure of the three main culprits, Why does Fernando Alonso sit out once again, he was obviously in the know of what was happening, do not forget he also had a great part to play in the McLaren v Ferrari fiasco, it seems wherever Alonso is there will always be scandal, Alonso is out for himself, his demeanour and attitude to the accusations quite blatantly show he has the knowledge, remember the TV interviews of last year, the man is incapable of lying or is so cocky that he thinks he can get away with it. Strip him of his points for the race and suspend him for the coming season, lets see how cocky he is with that.

Posted 14:52 16th September 2009

Robin Knowles says...

Once again it appears we have more cheating within a professional sport. I am just a normal working man who has paid ¿500 for a ticket to watch the Grand Prix at Monaco and ¿350 to see the Spanish Grand Prix, plus hotel and travelling costs, only to be told that races are being "fixed". Will the ordinary punter get their money refunded?. I think not. If these assumptions (for that's all they are at the present time) are proven to be correct then each individual,with proven involvment in the offence, and that includes drivers, mechanics and management should be declared bankrupt following the seizure of all of their assets gained from Formular 1. These assets should be used to compensate the cheated followers. My dear wife went without so enabling me to follow my much loved sport. How do I explain this to her? These people are the lowest of the low. With a penalty outlined as such, it will hopefully deter others from committing the same crime.

Posted 14:38 16th September 2009

Rob Wheeler says...

There has been a lot of talk about how F1 should change, getting rid of the old guard etc, and how much the old guard are making out of the sport and that they have been holding the sport to ransom. Well, everyone can sit down and be very relaxed because there is no need to get rid of them. They are managing to do it quite well themselves!!! In a couple of years time, they will have all managed to expel themselves from the sport through greed and corruption. Motorcycle racing is going the same way, Football is at it as well, and even athletics has a go. It wont be long before pure amateur sports makes a big comeback. My god, that will mean that average Joe Smith will be able to compete !!!

Posted 14:38 16th September 2009

David White says...

What will the FIA do now? It punished McLaren with a $100k fine when a team individual was involved with receiving design material from another team, so Renault cannot plead leniency on the basis of only three people in the team were involved.. McLarengate was not cheating or race fixing. This is a more serious situation as injury to the driver and potentially other competitors could have resulted. I am astonished Symonds has been implicated.

Posted 14:34 16th September 2009

Brian Boulnois says...

Well this is a shock, the team were going to take the piquets to court over blackmail and now with two top men quitting renault there must of indeed be truth behind what Piquet Jr has claimed. It seems madness to order someone to crash their car so the other can win, im sure the fallout of this will be felt for many months to come

Posted 14:22 16th September 2009

Tarek Salem says...

OMG, I am not sure if this goes down as the most wicked attempt at ingenius cheating which went very well, well only for few months. However, no malice can go without a little stupid thing which was to trust a driver won't talk at some time let alone sack him?!!

Posted 14:21 16th September 2009

Ayo Adepeju says...

They just tried to kill a driver by the sounds of things and i think full punishment is what they need to get even if it means they get excluded from next year's races. Sad for F1 really. Why threaten Nelson even when they know that their car is not as fast as the Ferrari or McLaren.

Posted 14:15 16th September 2009

Adrian Sutherland says...

If the fines & penalties levied by the rulers is less than paid by Mclaren over 'Hamiltongate' the rulers of the sport will still be bowing to Renault team in an attempt to stop them leaving F1. As for Flavio - he's a cunning old fox - but what was Pat thinking of? not what we'd expect from a professional.

Posted 14:10 16th September 2009

Ewan Murray says...

Renault should go from F1 and all people involved with the team should have no further involvement in any kind of motorsport, this includes Piquet and Alonso. Hopefully the WMSC will do the right thing.

Posted 14:07 16th September 2009

Andy Murray says...

McLaren were fined ¿100 million in the spygate issue when they neither used or benefitted from the information, surely what Renault have done is far worse so if proved guilty are the FIA going to impose a far higher penalty either financial or even expulsion from the championship?? Fernando Alonso was involved in the spygate issue at Mclaren and lo and behold, who was the Renault driver benefitting from Piquet's crash, yes Fernando Alonso!

Posted 13:55 16th September 2009
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