Renault "crash-gate"

[devdevlin]

There is a conspiracy theory going about that Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed his Renault F1 to bring out the safety car. This in turn favored Alonso driving the number 1 Renault for a race victory. Numerous drivers has also raised concerns that the crash indeed seemed deliberate. Massa should have won the race if it wasn't for the safety car period. Now the FIA is stepping in for an investigation.

Hamilton won the championship from Massa with just a single point after Brazil. If the FIA do find evidence of the conspiracy being true, then it would not be far fetched that Renault will be excluded in the 2008 Singapore GP. Stripping Alonso of the win as well. This in turn would give the win and 10 points back to Massa which was leading the race before the incident. These extra points would then compromise the entire 2008 world championship as the championship will be stripped from Hamilton and awarded to Massa.

For Hamilton haters this is good news, but for F1 as a whole it is not a good scenario. The record books will show that 2008 was a championship won due to conspiracy and took more than a year to resolve. Definitely not good for any sport.

References:
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...01101931.shtml
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...31212254.shtml
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...02100847.shtml
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...03110852.shtml
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...03120026.shtml

[overdrayv]

Hamilton won the championship from Massa with just a single point after Brazil. If the FIA do find evidence of the conspiracy being true, then it would not be far fetched that Renault will be excluded in the 2008 Singapore GP. Stripping Alonso of the win as well. This in turn would give the win and 10 points back to Massa which was leading the race before the incident. These extra points would then compromise the entire 2008 world championship as the championship will be stripped from Hamilton and awarded to Massa.

a driver must first finish the race in order to earn the position and score points. if Alonso were stripped of the win, the 2nd placer will be promoted to P1.

[Monseratto]

Piquet Jnr just whining after given the boot after another lackluster year with Renault. Alonso won the next GP after Singapore to silence his critcs...

[BoyFerrari]

Oo nga. Hindi sana napag-initan si Glock na benta sa Brazil.

[CVT]

This is proving to be an interesting circus.....

8601:matrix:

[tidus1203]

IMO whatever the outcome of this investigation Hamilton should not be stripped of his championship. Its not his fault. Only Renault should be punished. And what's not to say that Massa will finish that race at the same place and or Hamilton will finish at the same place?

[overdrayv]

Race-day meeting key to Renault case

A meeting between Nelson Piquet, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds hours before last year's Singapore Grand Prix is central to the race fixing allegations surrounding the Renault team, Autosport has learned.

With the FIA's World Motor Sport Council due to meet on September 21 for Renault to answer charges that the team caused a deliberate crash in Singapore last year to help Fernando Alonso win, sources have confirmed for the first time background details of the case.

Autosport understands that key to what happened in the race is the discussion that took place in one of Renault's offices at the Singapore track on the Sunday, where race tactics were discussed between Piquet, team principal Briatore and director of engineering Symonds.

Sources claim that in evidence submitted to the FIA by Nelson Piquet, the Brazilian driver says he was asked by Briatore and Symonds to crash deliberately early in the race so as to help Alonso win.

Piquet says that he agreed to do so because he felt uncomfortable about his situation at the team, with Renault having not renewed his contract for 2009 at that time - and Briatore was stalling on making a firm commitment. Piquet suggests that he only went ahead and caused the accident because he felt he would be rewarded for his actions.

In his evidence, Piquet claims that he was taken aside by Symonds after the first meeting and instructured that he should crash on lap 13 or 14, shortly after Alonso's scheduled first stop, at Turn 17.

The reason this part of the track was singled out was because there were no cranes present there to lift the car away, so any accident would virtually guarantee a safety car.

Piquet's claims have, however, been denied by both Briatore and Symonds in documents that are believed to have been submitted with the FIA. Although they confirm that the meeting between the three of them took place, both suggest that it was Piquet's own suggestion to cause an accident.

Sources claim that the Singapore race-fix matter came to light on July 26 - the day of Piquet's last race for Renault in Hungary - when his father Nelson contacted FIA president Max Mosley to make him aware of what had happened.

Piquet Jr. then visited the FIA's headquarters in Paris on July 30 to present a statement to FIA representatives, believed to be stewards' advisor Alan Donnelly, and external investigators from the Quest agency.

Following Piquet's testimony, the three stewards from the Singapore Grand Prix, plus two external investigators from Quest, were flown to the Belgian Grand Prix to conduct interviews with Renault representatives.

A report in Italian magazine Autosprint also suggests that telemetry data from Piquet's car has emerged as another reason why the matter has gone to the WMSC.

At Turn 17 where Piquet crashed, normally the rear wheels of the Renault would lose grip on the exit - requiring the driver to ease off the throttle briefly. However, on the lap he crashed, Piquet kept accelerating even though the rear wheels had lost grip.

Briatore is reported to have claimed that he was: "a victim of extortion by the Piquet family.

"I confirm the meeting with Piquet on Sunday morning, but nothing like that was ever talked about. I also remember that Piquet at Singapore was in a very fragile state of mind. Besides that, there are the audio recordings where I express disappointment when I see on the screens that Piquet had crashed."

Symonds is also reported as saying: "It's true, during the Sunday meeting with Piquet the issue of deliberately causing a SC deployment came up, but it was proposed by Piquet himself. It was just a conversation."

Renault has said it will not comment on the matter officially before the WMSC hearing later this month.

Autosport.com

[CVT]

Hhhmmm....,- so it was thrown on the table.....

8601:matrix:

[overdrayv]

Briatore and Symonds leave Renault

Renault has announced that team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds have parted company with the team and that it will "not dispute" the allegations of race-fixing when it appears before the World Motor Sport Council next week.

The team had been accused of asking driver Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately during last year's Singapore Grand Prix in order to cause a safety car period that would work to his team-mate Fernando Alonso's advantage. The Spaniard went on to win the race.

"The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix," said a statement from the team.

"It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.

"Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment."

Shortly before losing his drive with Renault, Piquet approached the FIA with the allegation that Briatore and Symonds had asked him to cause a deliberate accident that would bring out the safety car in Singapore, and that his heavy crash on lap 14 of the race had therefore been pre-planned.

Alonso - who had been a contender for pole until a qualifying fuel pump failure left him only 15th on the grid - had made a very early pitstop just before the caution caused by Piquet's crash and duly vaulted to the front of the field, from where he delivered Renault's first victory of a difficult season.

FIA investigators quizzed Briatore, Symonds and other team members over the incident during the Belgian GP weekend, and subsequently announced that the team would face a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on 21 September.

Evidence, including Piquet's statement, telemetry details and radio transmissions, was leaked to the media during last weekend's Monza event, which also saw Renault announce that it would take legal action against Piquet and his triple world champion father Nelson, accusing both of blackmail.

The saga then took another twist when it emerged that the FIA had offered Symonds immunity at the hearing in exchange for full disclosure of the facts surrounding the Singapore incident.

As the Renault team - rather than Briatore and Symonds themselves - has been charged over the allegations, today's announcement by the team is unlikely to have any bearing on next week's hearing.

Autosport.com

[CVT]

Whew! This is indeed one for the records!.....

8601:matrix: