Renault escape ban for crash (Poll)
Renault ony received a suspended sentence for causing a crash in Singapore
The FIA used strong words to describe how Renault conspired to cause a deliberate crash to win the Singapore Grand Prix. It said:
The World Motor Sport Council considers Renault F1’s breaches relating to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to be of unparalleled severity. Renault F1’s breaches not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself. The World Motor Sport Council considers that offences of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship.
But it has not banned Renault from a single race nor stripped them of its position in the 2008 championship, nor fined them. Instead the team has received a “suspended punishment” which will last until the end of 2011.
Renault's punishment is:
- Far too harsh (2%, 47 Votes)
- Too harsh (2%, 52 Votes)
- About right (25%, 735 Votes)
- Too soft (33%, 977 Votes)
- Far too soft (38%, 1,182 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,993
Loading ...Presumably this lenient punishment was designed in the hope that Renault will remain in F1 until 2011, instead of leaving in disgrace as many feared it would.
The FIA claimed it reduced the punishment because Renault had conducted its own internal investigation into the crash and taken reasonable steps.
The individual culprits, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, have in effect been barred from competing in FIA-sanctioned events – Briatore for an unlimited period, Symonds for five years. As the FIA cannot punish them directly, as the pair are no longer represented by licence holders, the regulatory body has achieved this by vowing not to sanction events in which the two compete for the respective periods.
The FIA specifically stated that no-one beyond Briatore, Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jnr were involved:
As regards Fernando Alonso, the World Motor Sport Council thanks him for cooperating with the FIA’s enquiries and for attending the meeting, and concludes that Mr. Alonso was not in any way involved in Renault F1’s breach of the regulations.
The full verdict is here and the FIA will shortly publish further details. What do you make of Renault’s punishment, or lack of it?
Renault Singapore crash controversy
- Renault face Singapore hearing today
- Singapore Grand Prix organiser says: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”
- No punishment for Briatore or Symonds?
- Did more foul play by Renault scupper Schumacher in the 2006 title decider?
- Fernando Alonso should renounce his Singapore Grand Prix ‘win’
- Briatore and Symonds step down as Renault accepts Singapore crash charge
- Piquet-Renault scandal: more new evidence and complaints about leaks
- Statement by Nelson Piquet Jnr on his Singapore crash leaked online
- Did Piquet crash on purpose? (Poll)
- Renault face Singapore crash hearing
- Nelson Piquet Jnr and Fernando Alonso in renault Singapore claim
- Piquet’s scathing attack on Briatore
- Nelson Piquet Jnr dropped by Renault
- Alonso and the Piquet-Renault fall-out
- 2008 Singapore Grand Prix analysis
- Fernando Alonso’s bad luck turns good for win (2008 Singapore Grand Prix)
Hey!……McLaren’s fine was way too high. It started the ball rolling for Ron Dennis to leave McLaren F1. Mosley got what he wanted. End of story.
Renault’s fine is just about right.
What do you guys want? Expulsion for Renault from F1 for the next 2 years? (Like they would ever come back if that happened.) 100MM dollar fine? (Like they would continue if that happened.)
Maybe if they just got out of F1 that team slot could be taken up by another nice small independent team. Like….Piquet Sport! Generic chassis, Cosworth power. In fact, the other Renault powered teams, and the teams wanting to go with Renault next year could go with Cosworth as well. Then we could further narrow the front running teams that actually have a shot at winning every other week. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Let it go!!
Maybe when Mosley leaves and if Vantenen gets elected FIA president we can just worry about the RACING in this World Wrestling Federation sport we call F1.
WWF1
I’m curious about the Symonds ban. If I remember rightly, he was offered immunity on the basis that he was to provide more information. Clearly he didn’t take that immunity, so presumably he didn’t provide more information.
However the FIA stated that:
It seems to me that Symonds owned up, admitted everything, but refused to accept the immunity that the FIA offered him. In which case, although I strongly condemn his actions, I have to take my hat off to the fact that he realised that what he did was wrong and, instead of accepting immunity, chose to take his punishment for it. For me, that goes a long way to explaining the difference between his and Flav’s punishments.
Anyway, overall I think this is a fair punishment. The FIA were far too harsh on McLaren back in 2007 and that has set such a big precedent that all recent punishments are considered far too soft. But, looking at it in context, the key players (Briatore and Symonds) have been punished correctly with their respective bans. The team were quite clearly unaware of the plan (I remember reading that even the engineers were questioning Piquet Jr. at the time) and therefore a suspended ban for the team is fair in my opinion – not so much a punishment, but more a warning to those who weren’t involved this time of what to expect if it happens again. Maybe removing Renault from the results of the 2008 Singapore GP and annulling the win would have been good too, but on the whole I think this punishment is about right.
It’s about right. On the evidence available, the only three people involved have now been forced out, with a big black mark against their names. Two of them will never be back in F1; Symonds possibly could return, but not until at least 2015. To miss five years’ technical development, and at his age (he’s 56 now)… I’d be surprised to see him come back either.
Everyone’s going on about McLaren (I’m a McLaren fan, by the way). They were let off with a suspended sentence after the first hearing, having claimed to have done a full investigation and found no evidence that Ferrari’s data had been used. Then Alonso’s emails and lots more information came out – McLaren had been testing with Ferrari data, and had lied in court, in a big way. The fine was huge, but so was McLaren’s budget. It hurt them but didn’t drive them out of business, and the hugely exciting 2007 drivers’ championship was still allowed to go right to the wire.
If Renault had been fined or barred from competing again, it would amount to the FIA telling the world that a major car manufacturer is a cheat. There’s no evidence to show that anybody other than Flav, Pat and NPJ was involved in the plot, and I don’t believe anyone else was. The last thing motorsport needs is to disenfranchise one of its biggest global contributors without evidence of corporate wrong-doing.
Renault, of course, were found guilty of spying in a similar way to McLaren, late in 2007, but were let off – I think that was a terrible decision, but was it taken to avoid dragging F1 through the mud again, at the end of a season which was mired in politics and recriminations rather than sport (just like 08 and 09, as it turns out).
The better parallel is with the treatment of McLaren after Australia this year. Yes, the offences were of a different magnitude, but there are similarities. The stewards were deliberately misled; lies were told and maintained; those responsible lost their jobs; a suspended sentence was passed. If Renault had their points taken away for Singapore last year (without otherwise altering the race result), alongside their ban (suspended for two years), I feel that would be the most appropriate penalty.
I have to agree with El Gordo’s comment above. The WMSC and FIA need to give serious thought to the punishments they hand out (although I’m pretty sure they don’t hand them out willy-nilly) and must bear in mind the punishments they handed out in the past. They must try to be more consistent or else the whole thing becomes a farce. If you spy on another team, you get a fine of 8 or 9 USD figures. If you meddle with your fuel tank, you get a 2 race ban. If you delibrately try to fix the result of a race and put other drivers and spectators at risk, you get told not to do it again.
I don’t necessarily agree with the WMSC’s decision, but I can see their logic. Flav, Symonds and NPJ were the main role players, and so flav and Symonds got hefty punishments, but it all seems a bit soft to me.
I don’t get it. Mclaren has done some pretty nasty stuff the last couple of years. But I don’t understand how risking the life of your driver (and others) to fix a race is considered to be better than Mclaren’s lying and stealing.
If this isn’t the FIA begging Renault to stay in F1, I don’t know what it is.
Yep!
FIA (Mosley) wanted Flav out, Flav steps down so Mosley wins and Renualt get off very lightly indeed.
FIA (Mosley) wanted Dennis out, Dennis doesn’t step down and Mosley loses so McLaren get hammered.
The real winner here is going to be Willy Weber and all the other F1 agents. The likes of Mark Webber, Heikki and Vitali Petrov will all be looking for new agents asap to negotiate their contracts for 2010…
But what does the Suspended sentence really mean.
Will Renault be keeping this years points?
Will Renault be able to collect points in 2010 and 2011? And what about drivers associated with the team, or are those considered separate points.
If they were given a heavy fine like McLaren, then Renault would just leave F1. Maybe they’d stay as an engine supplier.
About the “no fine for Renault” argument, the FIA press release states:
“Renault F1 made the following points in mitigation:
….
- it committed to paying the costs incurred by the FIA in its investigation; and
- Renault (the parent company, as opposed to Renault F1) committed to making a significant contribution to FIA safety-related projects.
”
Seems to me these days were spent negotiating between FIA and Renault the amount of the “significant contribution”, and I think, from the figures rumored, that it can probably be in the same range as McLaren’s fine.
I think they just didn’t want to put emphasis on this aspect maybe to avoid Renault’s shareholders (and the banks that will lend them money in the near future) to be upset.
This has the side effect to avoid a “Your fine is bigger than mine” war between F1 supporters..
Didn’t think about that. It will probably come out later on (f1business or some other business source will shed light on it)
Unbelievable…Totally unbelievable. Nelson Piquet Jr has the driving skills to deliberately crash his F1 car on cue and without hurting anybody…unbelievable. And all you people thought he was useless.
Best comment of the bunch!
I’ve watched the shunt on YouTube and he did a good job. Maybe Nelsino will find work in Hollywood as a stunt driver?
Maybe all those other spins were deliberate practices…
I think they should have at least stripped Renault and Alonso of the win.
My fingers are paining
I’ve typed that statement at least a dozen times 
What really sadness me is that the real perpetrators of the crime have gotten away with this!!
Dunno what they are upto now. But I suspect one is upto planning something very sinister, cuz the fatso will not rest in peace until he seeks his revenge & the other I hear is shamelessly holidaying in Spain. I suspect he’s sunbathing on one of those nude beaches in Costa Natura or Playa de la Mar Bella or wherever. Absolutely pathetic
Aside from the fact that there was no fine based on the amount of money received for winning the Singapore GP, and that they’d basically have to do it again to get banned, I feel this was the right punishment.
Flav is gone for good. Symonds will find it hard to find a job after five years in the wilderness. Piquet’s F1 career is over.
Yes, it pales in comparison to the McLaren case, both in crime and punishment. That doesn’t mean Renault, the team, who had nothing to do with it, should be slammed. The ridiculous witch-hunt of McLaren and Ron Dennis doesn’t justify doing the same to Renault.
Some of the reaction to this is almost as if Piquet, Flav, and Pat had claimed innocence, were found guilty, and then only got this sentence. The WMSC no longer has jurisdiction over the three, apart from Piquet, though he was given immunity. One thing though: if the case could never have been proven without Piquet’s testimony given under immunity, would any of you be happy with that?
Agreed. I still think Renault got of lightly, but their penalty is more appropriate to their crime than McLaren’s was for theirs.
Renault got no penalty at all. How is that a more appropriate penalty for any wrongdoing?
If the guy in the car that “crashed” did the correct thing & raced his best that day, this would be a non event. He may have lost his ride, but he could be satisfied with himself as an honest person.
I am surprised fernando alonso’s slate was wiped clean..he claims that he dint have any knowledge what-so-ever about the crash!!! I mean r u f**king kidding me.??..that man(flavio briator) is alonso’s manager for god’s sake ..I am sure they both would have happily had a drink together that night laughing their ass out on the issue..it’s a shame that FIA has reduced the sentence falling for some cheap “substantial contribution” from Renault..it’s a disgrace!!!!
Evidence both witnessed and circumstantial make Alonso innocent. After the race he was clearly seen waving his arms saying “Safety car, Safety car” to Flavio as if a miracle had occured, Flavio looked shifty as well!!
I’m a Lewis Hamilton fan, and I’m no supporter of Alonso, but sometimes you have to accept that events are as the appear to be, and sometimes somebody can be innocent. If you were Flav and Pat would you tell a driver that has previous for grassing up his employers about a sinister plan! Probably not.
Nelson Piquet is doomed. From now on, NO ONE will hire him – a Judas, a jerk.
For me he is the biggest villan in the whole episode, I really dislike the kid after what he has done.
I hear that McDonald’s might be interested.
No one will hire him because he has no talent not because he is a Judas.
Alonso on the other hand is a talented Judas so he get’s a Ferrari contract.
Makes you wonder if Flavio already got the 20% signing on fee! could be worth 10million.
One thing that I dont like is the fact that people are comparing it to the 2007 spying scandal. For me this should be looked at in its individual case, people’s lives were put in danger. F1 has been made a bit of laughing stock especially now that it seems that the FIA knew about this last year and have come out and said they couldn’t do anything as Piquet Jnr didnt make an offical complaint……. Dur, they knew that a team had cheated and still would not act!!
They had no evidence until Piquet Jr confessed.
I really love F1 although today is day I question why.
Luckily I quickly remember that F1 is about much more than just the recent scandals.
For me there is 1 commen factor is a lot of scandals or the way they are handled => Max Mosley. Thank god he is gone at the end of this year – hopefully not replaced by Jean Todt.
Reading through the verdict it is surprissing that those worsed punished or most impacted by the punishment are completely innocent and have no involvement in the incident. These are the drivers that are represented by Flavio Briatore, because they must find a new manager or lose their license.
Get me right – I am extremely happy Briatore is banned for life – but in the process to indirectly punish innocent people is so like the FIA.
Yes Renault was fully cooperating whereas Mclaren was not but why did Renault or the FIA for that matter investigate it when Massa raised questions last year. The telemetry was available, conversations, etc, etc. Makes you wonder how many things are not discovered by the FIA until a driver/employee decides to have revenge on his former team/boss.
Also it now seems that you can do whatever you want as a team as long as at the moment you are investigated you fully cooperate and fire 1 or 2 key positions.
Last a call out to all the F1 teams – please never ever offer Piquet a contract. He will crash your car when he drives for you and he with trash your reputation when you fire him.
But Ari Vatanen wanted Renault to get off without a ban as well.
That comment was referring to the unpredictability of FIA decisions with no seemingly no logic.
Don’t know if with Ari it will be better – just think it can not be worse.
FIA’s number 1 priority is to regain credibility by becoming more transparent and better organized.
I used to watch wrestling, good entertainment but fixed to the eyeballs. The ‘Pinnacle of motor sport’ is the same. Who can trust any results now?
pathetic!!
No one really thinks that.
One exceptionally dodgy GP win in bizarre circumstances turned out to be a fix… therefore all GP wins are a fix. Right.
Don’t be silly. The truth is, Alonso’s win looked suspiciously “lucky” all along. We merely refused to believe that Briatore or Piquet would stoop that low.
“One exceptionally dodgy GP win in bizarre circumstances turned out to be a fix… therefore all GP wins are a fix. Right.”
If you look at GP history you find a lot of technical problems developing for the Nr2 driver when Nr1 is behind him and needing points. Or Nr2 drivers not passing NR1 even when they are clearly faster. Shumi/Barrichello in Austria is perhaps the most glaring example of this sudden loss of speed to get the “correct” result.
Im somewhere between OP and jonathan. F1 is nor wrestling but not entirely clean either.
To me is a fair punishment, ahould had anyway some fine. Alonso has been cleared because he is NOT guilty, as he wasn’t on the Spygate. Now, that’s what I think, and I know some people will hate alonso whatever he does as I said in a previous post he “is” a meber of Al qaida.
Not only is it only a suspended ban but according to the FIA:
“However, having regard to the points in mitigation mentioned above and in particular the steps taken by Renault F1 to identify and address the failings within its team and condemn the actions of the individuals involved, the WMSC has decided to suspend Renault F1’s disqualification until the end of the 2011 season. The World Motor Sport Council will only activate this disqualification if Renault F1 is found guilty of a comparable breach during that time.”
they have to do something equally as bad for the ban to kick in. So does this mean they can cheat as long as they don’t crash? On another note, Briatore might have been a cheat but I’ll still miss trying to figure out what the hell he’s talking about in F1.
Carl27 – I think Id hate Alonso more if he was in a terrorism organisation….. This for me is not about Alonso. It should be about a fair and just system for everyone to know the rules and work to them.
For me this just gives the next team that cheats a get out…. what they’ll say is sorry we cheated and can you give us the same punishment as renault please!
And you think after this, anybody is going to get caught doing something similar. Too many people have lost respect, their jobs, their ambitions and their dreams. I will bet that we will not see any such scandal anytime soon in F1. And there will be rules such as FIA management licenses put into place to ensure this cannot happen again.
Fair point, just got a bit fed up with people preferences judging the subject.
Renault’s punishment is too soft, as in addition to the given punishment, the points awarded to them in Singapore last year should have been taken away and also should have given some cash fine like 1 million dollars…etc. But still happy that the matter is over now and people can focus on racing especially the interesting championship.
There is no point taking away Renault’s points from the race, away from them.
Can there be a second poll? How about one that says “For all those who chose one of the bottom two options, are you a bitter McLaren fan that will use any excuse to bring up the 2007 fine?”
Obviously your hatred of McLaren blinds you to the fact that this is a ridiculous decision when you compare the two cases.
I don’t hate McLaren. I am indifferent towards them. I actually support Brawn and Toyota.
But, I think that if F1 history began in 2008, after the fine, the vote would be somewhat different. If viewed in isolation, I believe this penalty would seem appropriate to most people.
I think its the right decision. If the whole Renault team knew about Piquet’s crash prior to the race, then it would have been to soft in my opinion.
I think it is ridiculous that McLaren were fined such a huge amount for something that was in no way dangerous to anyone, yet Renault have got off scot free on this one.
Bottom line is, Mosley hates Ron Dennis, and he knew Mclaren would not leave F1, whereas Renault have probably threatened to leave if they were fined heavily.
I wonder what the rest of the teams think of this ? The corrupt FIA damage this sport more than anyone else.
All those responsible have left the team, therefore the FIA is right to show clemency.
This is totally different to the McLaren case, in which those responsible were still at the team, and in which the team had lied to the FIA through its teeth.
So by that token if it was not Renault but just their employees at fault, you should agree that it was not McLaren, merely a handful of employees that were at fault, so the only difference is that in the 2007 case, nobody was put at risk of injury or death.
This is totally different to the McLaren case, in which those responsible were still at the team, and in which the team had lied to the FIA through its teeth.
Whatever. It still does`nt justify the huge inconsistency.
I’m so glad this is all over, sod worrying about the penalty, me moaning ain’t gonna make anyone learn or change their minds.
Lets just pray for a clean fantastic rest of a season, and a lot less political year next year.
I read all the comments and agree with those who said that the punishment is too light. I do think that banning Renault would be too harsh specially since they aren’t proven guilty, and the obvious harm it would cause the sport etc…But I expected them to disqualify the results from the 2008 Singapore GP, or ban them for this coming one at least! I also did expect a monetary fine, as it is only fair compared to the spygate..
Now some of you are saying that a 100 million didn’t harm McLaren much, but would damage Renault.. It might be true, but rules can’t be bent that way.. The FiA should set fixed fines based on the severity, this way ppl won’t be confused.. Whether you’re a McLaren fan or not, one cannot help but say that this is unfair to McLaren..
Flavio and Symonds have been rightfully punished, some argued that Pat Symonds should be also banned for indefinitely, but we don’t know what went on between him and he FiA, he’s probably less guilty than Flavio so I think it makes sense that he gets a lighter punishment, after all maybe he was following orders, like Piquet..
As for Nelson Piquet, out of the three I think Flavio is the most guilty, then Pat, then himself because he was following their orders. It’s true that he was the one who agreed to carry their sick plan out, but he made a selfish decision in fear of his career, little did he know that by doing that he would tarnish his career in F1 for life! Plus something had to be given in exchange for the information, his immunity. I think he should be lightly punished, but I can’t think of anything worse than tarnishing his F1 career – which he has done himself! Poor Piquet.. His apology on his website seems sincere, and I hope this will teach him a lesson and if he really deserves to be in F1 again, that he gets an offer and a second chance to prove himself.. Otherwise tant pis!
They are definitely proven guilty.
@Keith I meant Renault as a whole organization, not the F1 team.. The FiA seem to have an “innocent until proven guilty” approach and there’s no evidence that anyone else has anything to do with the crash, even though I find it hard to believe. Alonso must have known or at least known later about it, and the rest of the engineers must have suspected it when looking at the telemetry data.. What a sneaky world it is..
MP4 I feel sorry for your fingers but you are summing up the inbjusice I feel perfectly.
Mclaren’s punishment made a mcokery of the case because at the time Renault went scot free. Mclaren could say wait ‘this is a vendetta against us’ it totally and completely took away from the crime just as today has said the crime is acceptable.
Briatore, Piquet and Symond’s have dmanaged the sport, risked people’s lives and influenced the WDC (whetehr you are Hamilton fan or Massa none of us can truly know what would have happened it leads us to say if if if if a hundred times and takes away from what a tremendous year it was).
Renault was guilty by that it is a team and therefore is accountable. A large fine? No not at all, not for the actions of a few bringing a full team and everyone who works there to disgrace and bringing pain. Take away constructors points? At least the blooming win? The three should be banned for life.
It is the day-to-day workers and Fernando I truly feel sorry for out of Renault being caught up in this and forever linked with such a sad case.
I hope the FIA take note of this anhd realise we want change. Ari for president, to save our beloved sport.
Agree with your statement above except I still believe that alonso is not as innocent as everyone is being led to believe.Alonso is very shrewd and he has somehow been involved in 2 of the last 3 scandals in f1 sport. 1st time an accident maybe, but we know he was in this up to his eyes and trying to use the info as a lever on Ron Dennis. 2nd time now and everybody is claiming innocence, I dont buy it. He may have covered his tracks so well that he is clear but I wont ever believe he didnt know what was happening.
Joke
If Renault had been banned Toyota may have walked too. I’m glad there ahsn’t been a ban (not for that though that would have posed problems) but because the majority of the team weren’t involved although they do have some responsibility to bear.
As I have said before this whole trial was a show. To say ‘don’t do it again but you know we can’t afford to lose you’.
This was Mosley’s farewell kiss to the sport delivered by his poisoned lips.
What happens to all that homosexual allegations that Flav leveled against Piquet Jr? Surely he can claim damages amounting in millions! its a serious allegation after all. Its character assassination if you’d ask me.
His father Piquet Jr said the same about the greatest of all, A. Senna, as well he laughed at Mansell’s wife.
Yes he did and that didnt work out to good for him as I remeber.
So what exactly constitutes as an unlimited period with regards to Briatore? Is that forever? Surely not. Indefinitely? At what point will he be allowed back and who decides?
It seems like quite a strange way to enforce a ban. Couldn’t they suspend the license of anyone who employs them? Maybe it is the only legally enforceable way they can make it work, still….
I’d say a heavy fine with the suspended punishment and the bans would be adequate but I’d add that Piquet should be given some kind of suspended punishment also.
Also what about drivers under contract with Briatore such as Alonso, Webber and Kovalainen? What if they can’t break their contract?
MP4 it was horrid, it made this into a playground joke, there was no call for those comments by Flav
This is what Fatso Flav said just after Piquet had walled it:
Engineer: “F***ing hell that was a big shunt.”
Flavio Briatore: “F***ing hell… my every f***ing disgrace, f***ing, he’s not a driver.”
Engineer: “So Fernando just to be clear mixture three and you follow it unless you get a green light.”
I dunno why he said he was not a driver. He must in fact be praising him for doing such a perfect job. He was after all the one who had instructed Piquet to do this! Its Flavio who’s a disgrace. I dunno how was Flav was able to sleep at nights for the past year or so.
Well he wasn’t supposed to totally wreck the car. Just park it into the wall Schumacher style.
I’d say Briatore’s comments are exactly on the mark
Hmm… parking it into the wall ‘Schumacher style didn’t do old Schumi much good at Monaco though did it? But if Schumi had of mashed up the wall at Rascasse ‘Piquet style’, would he have been penalised for his cheating? I doubt it.
K I think there must be a way for them to break contract because it couldn’t possibly continue now, not with the FIA’s ruling.
I’m sure there’s a way but it’s not necessarily viable or maybe the contracts will be void now!
A sad day indeed. The FIA really have lost the plot if they think people won’t see the political manoeuvres here, rather than a fair and honest judgement for an unprecedented act to fix the outcome of a race.
The implications of banning Renault as a car manufacturer from F1 could have global ramifications, yes, but there must have been a punishment considered for Team Renault F1, and the F1 arm alone, involving the stripping of points, 2010 ban and/or other financial penalties. Piquet should have had his superlicense revoked, regardless of whatever position he was in with his contract last year. The guy took the decision to plant the car into the wall, under racing conditions. It was his right foot.
The FIA wanted Briatore’s head on a stick and they have rubbed his nose in it with a lifetime ban. I’m not condoning his actions at all, but to ban someone so publicly from any FIA motorsport, someone who has been in the business for more than 20 years, who has brought a bit of good marketing to F1 (in years gone by) – is tough. I bet Bernie lobbied hard for that to be toned down. I don’t think FB will go quietly back to the fashion business…there will be more to come.
And yet Symonds get’s a five year ban for admitting eternal shame?
Although the circumstances and actions were different, it’s plain to see that Ron Dennis negotiated his retirement timing after Spygate, to avoid a similar public flogging.
It’s a sad day because the punishment did not fit the crime and the analogy of Renault being like a government bailed out bank is a good one. It’s a sad day because the politics which has always gone on in F1, is truly exposed as farcical for all to see. It’s a sad day beacuse if your face fits and you apologise you appear to get away with almost anything.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and I think MM must be quite pleased to have eradicated Messrs. Briatore and Dennis from F1 before his own departure. I’d love to see some characters like Paul Stoddart, Tom Walkinshaw, Eddie Jordan, Niki Lauda and the like to appear on the pit wall and liven things up a bit as a team boss in the years to come.
Will Alons be able to race this weekend in Singapor?
As I read the FIA ruling anybody with contractual connections with Briatori cannot take part in any FIA controlled event. Where does this leave Alonso who is managed by him? I think Webber is also managed by Briatori and Kovalinen has some connection as well. Does this mean they will not be racing this weekend?
The FIA ruling says that the superlicences of drivers associated with Briatore will not be renewed. So they will be valid for the rest of this season, but a new superlicence will not be issued next year if they are still managed by Flav.
Thie punishment is as fair as it can be. No point in moaning about the Mclaren fine as that happened before the economic meltdown, Renault want to leave and only the 2 who have resigned knew about it in the Renault camp. Mclaren was different the had info they should not have had, big difference and used it. The FIA and FOTA want and need Renault in the sport and Flavio out for ever and Pat Symonds out for 5 years is fair.Next year will be a grid of no hopers with all the new teams.
Let all the true F1 fans say they don’t want to see true and classic battles between the real F1 teams. The FIA obviously see renault as one of them.
An average noobhead F1 fan will draw the
Cheat during an economic recession, cuz you can get away with it!!!
A leneient punishment. At the very least, the FIA could additionally have banned them from this weekend’s race, which would have been especially fitting given that it’s at Singapore. Personally I think a 3-6 race ban plus the bans for Symonds and Briatore would have been appropriate.
And yes, compared to $100 million Renault’s punishment seems a joke. But most of you making this point would surely agree that $100m fine was outrageous in the first place. Do two wrongs make a right? That is, would it have been better for the FIA to have been unfairly harsh on Renault, just to be consistent with how they treated McLaren?
Are you seriously suggesting McLaren fans start using consistent logic?
You don’t understand their mindset. Remember: stealing Ferrari’s technical data was just a bit of fun, but Kimi Raikkonen deserves a $100m fine for going round the outside at La Source, thereby bringing the sport into disrepute.
totally agree. delete all the other comments (alright you can leave a few cos there are some others that are spot on too) and this one stands on its own, and its the reason I couldn’t vote without this as a qualification
I think the ideal punishment for Renault would be to make the “ING” logo on the car to “cheatING”
mp4 it was all show, Flav covering his back.
I don’t care about Mclaren’s punishment in this instance, just that they were inconsistent with how the punished Renault in 2007 also. This is seperate case, and in seperate more severe. I want harsher punishment because it was a serious crime. They should be banned from motorsport if not investiagted by the Singapore authorities for such deliberatly wreckless behaviour.
Even if it was to the detriment of the whole sport? The punishment can’t damage the sport more than the accused otherwise theres no point.
The biggest ego in F1 brought crashing down. Big time!
Renault should have been fined aswell though!
And Alonso gets to keep his win. Even though it was obtained by cheating??!!
Something is wrong here you guys…..
Sadly you & I are mistaken. Cuz Flavio is a shameless fat man who doesn’t give a damn bout ego & stuff. All that he cares about is his bank balance & his various mistresses. Both are intact. now that he’s outta business, it’ll be interesting to see if he has the same appeal with women or not.
Ill just repost what I said in a post a few days back from the thread about Flavio steppiing down:
“Frankly i dont see what the fuss is. A driver intentionally crashes into a wall basically risking very little due to car and track safety.
We have had some of the greatest names in the sport (Schumi, Senna) INTENTIONALLY crashing into other cars ( which is a hell of a lot more dangerous) and they got punished by being crowned world champions.
So i fully excpect the punishement to be light now that Flavio is gone.”
Seems I got it about right.
Didn’t I already reply to this in the other thread?
When Schumacher was found to have intentionally rammed Villeneuve, he was disqualified from the WDC.
In the other cases you have in mind, the drivers weren’t found guilty of anything, so they couldn’t be punished.
Yep you did. But im not convinced you are right for a number of reasons.
But those debates has been raging for 20 years so im not gonna start them up here again.
I would feel sorry for Alonso losing his win when all he did was race but at the same time Renault should not recieve the win more and so they should have lost it. Or at least have taken the points off the team even if not Fernando.
The Penalty on Renault was Far too soft. Suspended Ban… They just walk away freely. Briatore got a harder than required penalty. But then for him what goes around comes around simple enough.
I now feel that Mclaren was handed a harsh punishment for the Spy Saga. If Ron had left the team then. Mclaren would have walked away free. In fact Ron was the guy who informed FIA when Alonso threatened him that he will leak this out.
There is one more factor to this. FIA knows very well that Renault can live without F1 whereas McLaren cannot. So a Punishment for Mclaren would always mean they will still stick with F1 this might not be necessarily the case with Renault
Last but not least. In Spy Saga Ferrari was the offended team so FIA ensured that the guilty is punished. Whereas here Ferrari might get offended if Alonso is in trouble. So things were settled out smooth.
So many possibilities , conspiracy theories and double standards. F1 has become real complicated nowadays. I Really Feel that FIA has no control over things. They just puppet what Bernie and Max wants.
Now that Alonso is not in trouble and Renault is staying back and engines are re-equalized lets see how the engines and the drivers sit in the next years cars.
When will we ever have a controversy free F1 racing year.
TMAX what happened thoguh could have offended Ferrari by that it certainly contributed to their driver losing the title?
I think Mclaren punishment was just…well a bit too expensive but was made a mockery of by that Renault done the same and got away with it.
This is all a Max Mosley vandetta against Flavio. Why is Flavio the only one punished here? Why did the FIA wait a whole year for this? When FOTA threatened their split from F1 Max said Flavio was trying to take over Bernies place and refered to Flavio as “loonie.” Flavio replied “Max is going personal but I’m too much of a gentleman to go personal,” Briatore said. “If he wants to go personal, I have a lot to say about Max. He needs to stop insulting people.” Now with NPJ willing to talk Max has what he needs. The whole thing is political. Did any of you think after loosing Honda and BMW that Max would push out Renault.
NPJ is a rat and willing to cheat. He has no integrity what so ever. Would you want NPJ driving if you owned any racing team nevermind an F1 team? How could a man that withheld evidence for a year and apparently cheat and lie to drive in F1 be unpunished. He is no better than Flavio.
This F1 politics at its best.
always was, its just worse now. They used to hide it better than they do now.
On a side point, does anyone know why Renault didn’t just destroy all the evidence? Are the telemetry and radio coms kept by the FIA after the race? If not why didn’t they trash it? If it goes missing, it may look suspicious but it proves nothing. After Mike Coughlan’s idiotic attempts at espionage I thought the teams would have learned better to cover their tracks
A quick question, it says FIA will not grant any license to drivers with links to Briatore. What about those drivers currently managed by him? There’s a few right (from reading the previous comments?)