PARIS — Renault drew a suspended two-year ban on participating in Formula 1 as punishment for conspiring to fix the outcome of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, won by Renault’s Fernando Alonso.
Former team boss Flavio Briatore bore the brunt of the World Motor Sport Council’s wrath. Competitors in F1 are banned indefinitely from having business associations with the flamboyant Italian, who became wealthy as U.S. marketer for the Benetton clothing line.
“The World Motor Sport Council finds that …Â Details
Multiple World Champion Niki Lauda has said that the FIA must still punish Renault hard for its involvement in fixing last year’s Singapore Grand Prix if Formula 1 is to restore its credibility.
In the wake of Renault admitting that it will not contest charges that it deliberately caused a crash in Singapore last year to help Fernando Alonso win, Lauda has called for tough sanctions. This comes despite the two men at the center of the case – Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds… Details
When news first broke at the Belgian Grand Prix that the FIA was conducting an investigation into the events at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the initial suspicion was that this was a case of a disgruntled former employee going out for revenge.
The matter then disappeared below the radar for several days, with neither Renault nor the Piquets making any further comment about it prior to the FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on September 21. Yet that all changed in the build-up to the Italian Grand Prix when, on the Wednesday night before the race…Â Details
Renault split with team principal Flavio Briatore on Wednesday and said it would not contest a charge that Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash during a Formula One race.
Renault, however, still must attend a World Motor Sport Council hearing on Monday in Paris to discover its punishment for the crash that helped Fernando Alonso win last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Renault could be thrown out of F1, but the dual departure of Briatore and engineering executive director Pat Symonds appears to be a move aimed at reducing the penalty.
“The ING Renault F1 team will … Details