F1 links: Piquet after Briatore, not Alonso
18th September 2009, 8:18 by Keith Collantine 24 Comments »
Nelson Piquet the elder has come out fighting about the possibility of taking Flavio Briatore on in court, but has clarified his comments regarding any involvement by Fernando Alonso in the Renault crash scandal.
I suspect many of you are, like myself, suffering from ‘crashgate fatigue’, so for something different check out David Tremayne’s interview with new Lotus boss Toby Fernandes in this morning’s round-up of links.
And as ever, please post any links you’ve found in the comments.
Nelson Piquet to plough his fortune into fighting shamed Flavio Briatore in court (Daily Mail)
"I have the money in order to get the best lawyers. And about what does he actually want to complain? About the truth?"
Singapore crash: Nelson Piquet Snr takes step back from Fernando Alonso allegation (Daily Telegraph)
Nelson Piquet: "All I said was that an intelligent driver like Alonso would ask questions if his team told him to come in to pit after 12 laps from 15th on the grid. As a driver I would have suspected something, so I can imagine only with difficulty that Fernando didn't know anything."
Shamed Renault may quit (Daily Express)
"They face a massive fine of at least $20million (£12.2m) when they face the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on Monday in Paris, but it is the disgrace which the car company cannot accept."
Lotus promise to bring the passion back to F1 (The Independent)
New Lotus boss Toby Fernandes: "After some of the things we've had to deal with at Air Asia – terrorism, Sars, bird flu – F1 has to be easy." I like him already!
Kubica to decide on future ‘very soon’ (Autosport)
"Amid the controversy caused by the race-fix allegations surrounding Renault, there is a chance that the current BMW-Sauber driver may feel it better to avoid a move there. Kubica remains strongly linked with the Williams team, as the Grove-based outfit seek a top-line replacement for Nico Rosberg, who looks set to join Brawn GP in 2010."
Powerful candidates back Ari Vatanen as proposed Senate members (Ari Vatanen)
"Ari Vatanen, who is one of the two candidates currently running for the presidency of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, has announced his proposed senate members who are backing him for the election, to be held on October 23rd."
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
Prisoner Monkeys said on 18th September 2009, 8:32
I have heard the rumour that if Renault have decided to exit, they may be – or already have been – purchased by Czech Le Mans team Charouz Racing Systems, who collaborated with Dave Richards on the Lola B08/60 chassis, the idea being that Charouz will then pass the team on to Dave Ricahrds who will finally make the grid with Prodrive. It’s just a rumour, though.
My concern here is that it won’t look good for the engine market. If Renault back out, most of the grid is going to be supplied by Mercedes, Ferrari and Cosworth with Toyota running their own. It’s not healthy.
Lustigson said on 18th September 2009, 8:49
It could very well be that Renault do a 1986, by withdrawing (selling) their factory team, but remaining on the grid as engine suppliers to Red Bull and Williams.
Alternatively they could do a 1998, and farm out the engine building to Mécachrome, although the Supertec company that sold the engines to F1 teams was run, at the time, by one F. Briatore.
Prisoner Monkeys said on 18th September 2009, 10:30
If Renault and/or Briatore are banned, would they be allowed to do that? Sure, they’re not directly involved with the sport … but they has some association, and that may be too much for the FIA’s liking.
KNF said on 18th September 2009, 9:34
While I’m not too familiar with Tony Fernandes beyond his providing of cheap air travel to us Southeast Asians, he certainly seems to be a guy who is into the history and passion of Team Lotus, and probably bleeds premium unleaded like the rest of us.
Let’s hope that that he gets his way with the sponsors and have that classic Lotus green livery on the grid.
KNF said on 18th September 2009, 11:10
New Lotus boss to step down
Seems like Tony Fernandes would prefer to be in the Paddock Club rather than being on the pitwall…
Who could he possibly find as a replacement?
mp4-19b said on 18th September 2009, 12:25
Flav?
Sush Meerkat said on 18th September 2009, 10:13
I’m sick and tired of hearing “gate” at the end of every scandal, what if there was a scandal involving a gate, aye? what now genius’.
why not, singaPOOR crash, or SING a song of ten points?, you know, something slightly witty (well almost).
KNF said on 18th September 2009, 10:52
Gategate??? Yeah, you’re not the first of many people to have pointed that out…
In Singapore and Malaysia, the closest term which could described the whole thing is “Night Race Kelong”, a kelong being a semi-permanent wooden rigging used to catch fish…
Keith Collantine said on 18th September 2009, 11:09
Although it’s useful to have a shorthand term for it the ‘gate’ thing is annoying (and rather detracts from the seriousness of the original ‘gate’).
I try to use alternative phrases where I can but they’re often very clumsy. It’s not just an F1 thing, of course, it happens across the media. Here in Britain the papers have had ‘bloodgate’ and ‘Manuelgate’ to name just two.
Chazzers said on 20th September 2009, 0:44
HAHA! SingaPOORsportsmanship… anybody? Is this thing on?
Keith Collantine said on 18th September 2009, 10:44
A private investigator claims to have served papers on a “high profile F1 driver”. Seems odd they would post about it on Twitter though:
http://twitter.com/PIJANE/statuses/4056700179
DC said on 18th September 2009, 11:48
Eh, they get sued all the time. “You breached our contract, your bodyguards roughed me up, you fathered my baby…” etc etc etc.
Anyone with money has to deal with this. It’s simply a cost of being ‘high profile.’
Keith Collantine said on 18th September 2009, 12:43
Looks like it’s bogus anyway:
http://twitter.com/f1fanatic_co_uk/statuses/4075823250
KNF said on 18th September 2009, 11:01
Did crash hurt S’pore GP?
Some views on the fixed night race in Singapore, some of the views are rather infuriating…
Personally, I’d think that the authorities should send a signal that match fixing cannot be condoned, regardless of whether if it’s local league football, or multi-million affairs such as a Grand Prix meeting, or else face the perception that there are two different laws for corruption in sports…
Also note that Singapore is hosting the Youth Olympics next year, so this may be watched closely by the IOC.
Oliver said on 18th September 2009, 11:14
If the daily express feels $20million fine is massive, what is their take on $100million. $20m is less than what Renault will make this season from their current position in the constructors championship.
Oliver said on 18th September 2009, 11:24
Why is Piquet trying to drag Alonso into this? Piquet jr claims only Flavio and Symonds spoke with him, even Piquets’ engineers knew nothing about this. I guess the Piquets are very bitter individuals. But that name has lost any value it had. They were con men who themselves got duped and are now claiming to be righteous.
There is no doubt there is a lot of envy of Alonso, so they want to soil his name also. Shameful pigs
Steve_P said on 18th September 2009, 12:36
I wasn’t following F1 the last time Lotus was a team. I am questioning the choice of the name for this team though. If my reading is correct, a Malaysian car company owns the Lotus name. The car will initially be built in Britain near the factory, but later moved to Malaysia. The company running the team is named 1Malaysia and the Malysian government has put money into the team. My question is this: How is this team the Lotus tram of old? It seems Lotus is just for name recognition only and IMO, they really should have used a different name because this really is a new operation.
matt said on 18th September 2009, 13:07
Seems that way to me too. It can’t be based in Malaysia and be called Lotus. Which anthem would play if they won? If they are really Lotus then it would have to be British, regardless of where they’re based.
KNF said on 18th September 2009, 14:14
If it’s a Malaysian racing licence, then it’s probably “Negaraku”/”My Country”.
They’ll probably seed the team with technical experts from Lotus Cars and Litespeed, and get Malaysian engineers to understudy them…
dwp said on 19th September 2009, 6:46
They own the name but it will never be Lotus. They should pick a name and make their name noteworthy, not try to assume the heritage of Team Lotus and Colin Chapman.
It is sad, but to me Lotus is gone.
Keith Collantine said on 18th September 2009, 12:48
Nelson Piquet the elder told the FIA Piquet Jnr’s crash was deliberate almost a year ago: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/motorsport/2009/09/18/piquet-revealed-scandal-last-year-115875-21682311/
r said on 18th September 2009, 13:14
when Jr started in F1, Sr also said that his son was a talented driver like Alonso and that he will probably beat Alonso… so: to me, he can say anything
Oliver said on 18th September 2009, 19:11
He didn’t make an official report, rather he just confided in his old buddy who happens to work for the FIA and has proven to be unreliable lately.
Joe Garnett said on 18th September 2009, 13:44
I agree. $20 mil is a lot of money but not a lot when you compare it to the amount banded around F1 all the time.