megatniza
Club Guest
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2005
- Messages
- 1,681
- Points
- 0
Another shocker from F1 ...whoever said that F1 is boring ...--------------------------------------------------------------Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds leave Renault over Nelson Piquet Junior crashRenault F1 have announced that team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds have left the team and that they will "not dispute" the allegations of race-fixing when they appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on Monday. By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent Published: 12:46PM BST 16 Sep 2009 Previous1 of 3 ImagesNext
Troubling times: Nelson Piquet Jnr maintains he was told exactly where to crash his Renault during the Singapore Grand Prix Photo: EPA
Impact: Nelson Piquet Jnr's Renault crashes into the wall at the SIngapore Grand Prix Photo: PA
Out: Flavio Briatore (left) and Pat Symonds have left the Renault F1 team , who will not dispute race-fixing allegations made by Nelson Piquet Jnr Photo: GETTY IMAGES/JOHN LAWRENCE It is unclear whether the pair have fallen on their swords or been pushed by the team’s owner, French car manufacturer Renault. The Formula One team were due to submit their full defence today to the FIA in response to recent allegations made by former driver Nelson Piquet Jnr who accused Briatore and Symonds of telling him to crash in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix in order to help star driver Fernando Alonso win the race. The team had denied all of the claims made against them by Piquet Jnr, who was dismissed by the team in July after being told he had failed to perform to expectations. Briatore claimed he had launched criminal proceedings against Piquet Jnr and his father, the three-time world champion Nelson Piquet Snr, for attempted blackmail. However, the team now say they will not contest the charges, indicating that their parent company was not prepared to back them. "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." It is interesting that the WMSC hearing is still to take place despite the fact that Briatore and Symonds are no longer there. The world council’s powers are almost limitless and the team could be chucked out of F1 altogether if it is felt the team were guilty of race-fixing, although it seems highly unlikely. Only Briatore, Symonds and Piquet Jnr are known to have been implicated in the scandal. Of those, two now no longer work in the sport and the other has already been granted immunity by the FIA in return for full disclosure of what went on in Singapore. Renault will almost certainly plead for clemency from the FIA as they will claim the actions of two men should not affect the employment of nearly 700 other staff within the team.
