Briatore gets banned, Renault given suspended sentence and the fallout begins!

[Hun200kmh]

ING out, Mutua Madrilena out too, with immediate effect. That leaves Renault F1 with TOTAL until the end of the year.

EDIT: ooops, Ardius beat me to it in the race thread ... sorry

 

[tibiquera]

Well you can read a lot of it on F1Rejects, they cover the 2000 and 2001 seasons in detail and there are a few submitted articles which cover it a bit.

In 98 Stewart did finish in front, you're thinking of 97, which was their first season.

I'll look at that.

But Stewart was bad in 97 and much worse in 98. In 99 they had a great car, when Herbert won the team's first and only race. That same year Ford bought the team. Then next year Barrichello moved to Ferrari. I remember that in 97 Barrichello finished 2nd in Monaco and 98 he finished twice in fifth.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

ING out, Mutua Madrilena out too, with immediate effect. That leaves Renault F1 with TOTAL until the end of the year.

While they'll suffer the ignomity of the sponsors withdrawing, I don't think it will hurt Renault too much. Their only update between now and the end of the year is going to be introduced in Singapore, and all of the money from both ING and Mutua will have been paid by now. And ING was already withdrawing at the end of this season, anyway. It'll be embarrassing, but it won't hurt their chances.

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

Now they can get sponsored by Brawn GP

By the way, D'Monty says the penalty is too harsh....maybe they could police themselves, personal interests aside in a new series after all...

 

[Touring Mars]

No wonder ING has pulled out of F1...

****ing hell ... my every ****ing disgrace, ****ing, he's not a driver.

 

[Prince.M5]

No wonder ING has pulled out of F1...

Nice catch mate !!!! 💡

 

[yeti]

Spot on.

C.

 

[tibiquera]

No wonder ING has pulled out of F1...

Oh man, awesome.

On a more serious note, I think sponsors have a clause that allow them to stop supporting the team if something that could damage their image happens. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened.

 

[mipuumal]

Finally Renault can get rid of that AWFUL paint scheme. Hopefully they will have something better in time for Suzuka.

 

[Hun200kmh]

I liked the yellow/black/White F1 Renaults of old ...

 

[tibiquera]

I mentioned in another thread that I think Renault today looks a lot like the old ones, like the one posted above. I don't know if it's just me though. Apparently I'm the only one who likes the current Renault livery too.

 

[Ian Poole]

Piquet now comes out and says no one suffered more than him???????

bbc.co.uk

Former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr says no-one suffered more from the Formula 1 race-fixing scandal than him.

Renault were given a two-year suspended ban after ordering Piquet Jr to crash so that team-mate Fernando Alonso could win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Team boss Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds resigned but Piquet Jr was granted immunity

"People say I should have been punished by the FIA but no one has been punished more than I have," said the Brazilian.

Speaking in an interview on Brazilian TV, Piquet Jr claims his former team had threatened to withdraw his contract before the crash.

"Some people have suggested that I was blackmailing Renault to continue my career but the situation was more complicated for a long time before," he said.

"At each race it was always the same story of threatening to withdraw my contract or the renewal for the next season.

"I made the allegation so that no other driver would go through what I went through and, more importantly, so that the whole episode would be clarified the way it has been."

In August, Piquet Jr was told by Renault he would no longer be driving for them.

The team later made a complaint against Piquet Jr and his father, before withdrawing the claim in September.

Renault had accused the pair of false allegations and blackmail but eventually informed FIA president Max Mosley that the charge of conspiracy levelled at them would not be contested.

Piquet's latest comments are unlikely to endear him to the F1 community and a series of team bosses were quick to distance themselves from him at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"On his performance, to be honest, disregarding the Singapore issue, I probably would not give him a drive and I would probably be further influenced in that decision by what took place," said Toyota team principal John Howett.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: "I don't think we would have any interest."

And interim Renault team principal Bob Bell added: "I am not sure I will be giving him a seat and that is really all I can say."

Manor GP, newcomers to F1 in 2010, had expressed an interest in Piquet, only for chief sponsor Virgin to all but rule that out.

The 24-year-old Piquet admitted he did not consider the impact the incident would have on his career, with the Brazilian coming in for a great deal of criticism from several figures in F1.

"It all happened so quickly and I must confess that I could never possibly have weighed up the consequences," he continued.

"The crash plan was only made hours before the race. I did not have time to think straight. I didn't have a great qualifying and this was also a contributory factor to me accepting the strategy late in the day.

"I was in a difficult position at the time and the renegotiation of my contract was in play if I didn't accept the strategy," he added.

"Some people have suggested I should have been punished by the FIA but, in reality, no one has been punished more than I have.

"I am at the beginning of my career, unlike the others who have been punished in this case. I am going to have to overcome many obstacles. I more or less have to start my career from scratch in Formula 1."

Despite his role in the events in Singapore, Piquet Jr insisted he has no regrets about blowing the whistle on his former team.

"Today I am just trying to carry on with my work. Motor racing is my passion and I've got to work hard to prove my worth on the track," he said.

"I know that I committed an error but I would have committed another if I hadn't gone public with everything that happened to me."

BBC F1 analyst Martin Brundle was heavily critical of Piquet Jr's decision to participate in the conspiracy.

"I am massively unimpressed by Piquet Jnr," Brundle told BBC Radio 5 Live after the World Motor Sport Council handed Renault a two-year suspended ban from Formula 1 .

"So are many others inside the paddock. He could have said no. He didn't need to do it. He's a man and can be responsible for his own actions.

"He didn't deliver at Renault as he wasn't fast enough and that's why he was released.

"The people who asked him to crash a car have been heavily punished with their reputations and creditably damaged and they are out of the sport. Piquet Jr gets off scot-free and I don't think that's right."

Can anyone say attention seeker much?

 

[Only_in_f1]

No but I can say W***er.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Uh...yeah, good thing his dad was able to get him to F1 because otherwise his skills would have been wasted.

 

[Ian Poole]

Uh...yeah, good thing his dad was able to get him to F1 because otherwise his skills would have been wasted.

what skills? His skills in kissing rear ends

 

[PeterJB]

what skills? His skills in kissing rear ends

I think rear-ending in general is what you're looking for!

 

[Ardius]

"I didn't have time to think straight"

Sorry Piquet, but this should tell you aren't smart enough to be driving a racing car. If you can't think quickly enough to work out intentionally crashing a car is an inherently dangerous and idiotic thing to do, you don't deserve to be in F1, or any motorsport.
And I'm amused how he "didn't consider the consequences". Did he think admitting this that he would be really seen as the innocent bystander? He confirms everything I thought about him.

Good ridance. 👎 Though I appreciate the downfall of Flavio he brought about.

 

[newnikita]

First, I'm agree, the Renault action would must be sanctioned.

But this real world is complex, and F1 is no exception. Nelson Piquet Jr would have being quiet and resing himself for his own good if he wanted to continue on F1.

And, in general, I think every F1 racing team has its own dark secrets or "sins"...

 

[Peter]

This situation has been sorted out by the FIA already, but how comes no one has thought of giving Piquet, Briatore, Renault and Alonso a lie detector test? So we can know if Briatore had anything to do with it, or if Alonso knew about it, or if Piquet is just making crap up, because I don't want ot see an old timer in F1 be banned because a dumb Brazilian boy who only occasionally finishes an F1 race won't shut his trap.

 

[NapoleonMikey]

because lie detector tests arent always accurate. i know at least here in the US they can not be used as evidence in court but they can be used by experts to show doubt. there for giving a polygraph test wont give within reasonable doubt that someone knew of the crash or not. its not like polygraph tests are just the answer to all problems if they were i dont think trials would take so long. it would be as simple as sitting the defendant down having him take the test and we instantly know if the person is guilty.

 

[TheCracker]

This situation has been sorted out by the FIA already, but how comes no one has thought of giving Piquet, Briatore, Renault and Alonso a lie detector test? So we can know if Briatore had anything to do with it, or if Alonso knew about it, or if Piquet is just making crap up, because I don't want ot see an old timer in F1 be banned because a dumb Brazilian boy who only occasionally finishes an F1 race won't shut his trap.

There isn't any doubt that they did it

Symonds has admitted to it:
'Pat Symonds has said it will be to his 'eternal regret' that he ever took part in the race-fix plans at last year's Singapore Grand Prix.'

...which makes Briatore guilty too, even if he says otherwise.

 

[Pupik]

If you can't think quickly enough to work out intentionally crashing a car is an inherently dangerous and idiotic thing to do, you don't deserve to be in F1, or any motorsport.

And I'm amused how he "didn't consider the consequences". Did he think admitting this that he would be really seen as the innocent bystander? He confirms everything I thought about him.

On the other hand, consider how believable this statement would sound:

"Well, the team manager wanted me to crash out, but I refused to. That's why I finished 12th, and had a bad [last pit stop/traffic/aero package] this time."

Not very believable at all.

 

[Ardius]

So you're saying that it made more sense to crash just to get rid of Briatore? Right, so we should promote blackmail?

Any other driver would have said "bugger off!", drove the race and moved on. Then would later refer to the incident in their biography or after they'd been sacked or whatever.

You're applying the hindsight of knowing Briatore and Symonds would have carried out, if Piquet hadn't done it, we wouldn't have known they would have - not to mention they would have denied it without the evidence.

I suppose it depends on whether you felt it was inevitable a driver would eventually do what Briatore told him to and that risking safety for once race is better than letting a man like Briatore continue to be invovled with F1.

I personally think it wouldn't have inevitably happened in future, but I can only guess. For all we know Briatore has been asking every driver he hired to do dangerous things and they have or haven't done them. Or that he hired Piquet for the precise reason of being able to pressure him so easily.

All of this doesn't make Piquet less of an idiot though - it just makes him a useful tool in getting rid of Briatore. But he doesn't exactly deserve applauding. If Briatore hadn't fired Piquet, maybe we would have never heard about it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

This situation has been sorted out by the FIA already, but how comes no one has thought of giving Piquet, Briatore, Renault and Alonso a lie detector test? So we can know if Briatore had anything to do with it, or if Alonso knew about it, or if Piquet is just making crap up, because I don't want ot see an old timer in F1 be banned because a dumb Brazilian boy who only occasionally finishes an F1 race won't shut his trap.

Believe it or not, polygraphs are actually considered to be fringe science. There's a lot of debate over how effective they can be, because lie detectors can actully be beaten.

 

[Peter]

True, and the pressure of being asked the question even if you're telling the truth will make your heart rate go up and the polygraph will put it down as a lie. But isn't there a different method that physically scans your brain or something?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Only in science fiction.

But even if it existed, it would still be questioned: it's the sceience whind the concept that is debated, not the actual physical method.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Braitore is looking to sue the FIA and get his ban overturned.

Even if he does get the ban overturned, though, I think he'll have trouble being acepted back into the paddock.

 

[Watchman]

Even if he does get the ban overturned, though, I think he'll have trouble being acepted back into the paddock.

I'm of the same opinion right there. 👍

 

[yeti]

Tosser.

C.

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

Braitore is looking to sue the FIA and get his ban overturned.

Even if he does get the ban overturned, though, I think he'll have trouble being acepted back into the paddock.

Maybe it's not so much paving his return back to F1, as much as his other sport endeavors, which are hindered by his lifetime F1 ban.