BREAKING: Renault F1 placed on suspended two-year, Briatore banned indefinitely?
by Jonathon Ramsey on Sep 21st 2009 at 9:56AM 
The World Motor Sports Council took only 90 minutes to reach a verdict in the case of Crashgate – wherein former driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. intentionally chucked his car into the wall at last year's Singapore GP to hand the win to Renault teammate Fernando Alonso. Realizing that Renault was contrite and that the company's disappearance from F1 would be bad for a lot of people, the WSMC handed the company a two-year suspended sentence. If Renault – and its people – keep clean until the end of 2011, it will be free and clear again. As usual in these cases, Renault F1 will also be making "a significant contribution" to racing safety projects.
As for team head Flavio Briatore (above), he couldn't even go down shooting. Having walked away from Renault and not in attendance at the WSMC hearing, all of the doors to FIA-sanctioned motorsport were closed behind him. Not only is he barred "for an unlimited period," from any kind of involvement in any race series or team, no driver "who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore," can get a Superlicense. We guess that mean's he's left to hang his head at his Billionaire's Club... or with his model wife... or on his yacht...
Pat Symonds, Renault's executive director of engineering, fared a little better, getting only a five-year ban. It appears the difference is that Symonds admitted participation in the "conspiracy," while Briatore still denies he had anything to do with it. We wouldn't be surprised to see Symonds in racing again, but perhaps not on the wall in F1 even after the five years is up. Piquet was given immunity for his help with the investigation, but his career has probably been given a terminal blow to the head. Alonso was found not to have known anything about the plot, which cynics, like Nelson Piquet, Sr. have found hard to believe, but this could clear the way for Alonso to potentially head to Ferrari without issue. Hat tip to Bertland!
[Source: Formula 1.com | Image: Mark Thompson/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Tael 10:18AM (9/21/2009)
moar drama
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Philthy 10:20AM (9/21/2009)
Reading F1 news on Autoblog first? I never thought I'd see the day.
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hashiryu 11:24AM (9/21/2009)
:rofl:
I know right!?!?!?!
mapoftazifosho 10:22AM (9/21/2009)
"After that, the driver and his father, three-time world champion Nelson Piquet Senior, claimed Briatore and Symonds had conspired to fix the race.
In response, Renault accused Piquet Jr of blackmail and announced they were launching criminal proceedings against him and his father."
I wouldn't be surprised if this was all Piquet Jr attempting to get back at the team for firing him. How many times was that kid in a tire wall?
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mk15 11:03AM (9/21/2009)
Piquet is damaged goods now. The other teams won't touch him. He no longer has to be fearful for his career in F1 because he probably will not have one at this point.
Franz 1:18PM (9/21/2009)
"How many times was that kid in a tire wall?"
Well, an article over on GPUpdate states that he's stuffed it 17 times in his F1 career. I think some of those must have been in practice and maybe qualifying, but there's no sugarcoating 17 crashes in 2 years. That must be some kind of record.
adrian 1:33PM (9/21/2009)
This was worse than the McClaren spy scandal. A marshal or spectator could of been killed as a result of this staged crash, But I bet the "significant contribution" Renault are making will be nowhere near as much as the McClaren fine.
bitterspeak 2:43PM (9/21/2009)
Piquet Jr. isn't a bad driver. He's just not a good enough driver in F1 in my opinion. I mean, if you have to "crash your car" to save your job, you're not cut out to be a F1 driver. Piquet's too weak in the head.
JD 10:25AM (9/21/2009)
Unrelated question: How much does an F1 car cost for it to be crashed on purpose?
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Fernando 10:38AM (9/21/2009)
lets just say several millions.
JSams4131 10:41AM (9/21/2009)
millions when you look at time spent, people paid, costs of travel, PR related sectors. but just for the car I'd say approx 1-2million.
ridiculous..im glad they got rid of this goon.
bitterspeak 2:52PM (9/21/2009)
Not as much as what you will be set to gain from a race win. Many, many more millions.
Mayoman 10:41AM (9/21/2009)
Piquet will never race in F1 again. Part of me still thinks it was his idea. I will miss seeing Flav at the races, he was one of the few characters left in F1.
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Matt 11:10AM (9/21/2009)
Perhaps you'd like you join him in the spa instead? lol
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_a7_nQRm492E/R1bzg2_hrWI/AAAAAAAAGYE/LbA-vrLBlms/s1600-h/Flavio_Briatore_TANGA.jpg
EU_reader 10:43AM (9/21/2009)
It's just a disgrace and shameful.
I'm European, I get F1... (not like most here) and I've always been a fan. But I feel like I couldn't care less at the moment, which is also a shame. I don't even remember how many races I've seen live this year. Usually I did an effort to see them all in a season.
I still enjoy watching a race from time to time, but usually it's by accident when I turn on the tv. I'm not 'planning' to see a race anymore. And when I'm watching the race, that's all I'm interested in. That moment, that race, those 50 laps and who won. Race by race. I don't care about the championship and the soap opera surrounding it.
Because despite everything, the races are still worth watching. Lots more action on the track than what it used to be, more intense, etc... Besides, I'm in favor of cost cutting regulation and downsizing in F1, accompanied by strict regulation. So that's NOT my problem, I'm very realistic in that regard. I'm not brainlessly defending a 'free for all' F1. Those days are behind us and would screw up the sport even more in these modern F1 ages.
You could say it's mainly the management and court cases that bother me.
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EU_reader 10:49AM (9/21/2009)
Think of the 'spygate' in F1, now this, teams wanting to break away. The eternal blackmail by the teams, the 'diffuser-gate', KERS not up and running, attitude on track, good tracks being excluded because of financial arguments, pitlane mess-ups, etc...
I DO like watching all the young talent and start up teams performing great though. Vettel is superb! Brawn GP was doing great, ...
EU_reader 10:51AM (9/21/2009)
Oh, and Flavio is definitely a douchebag. Good riddens, what a clown. Sore loser, frustrated guy and more jet set than team manager. Compare that to Ross Brawn or the people at BMW.
Now he can spend his time with the young photo models and call it a day.
Senna 11:02AM (9/21/2009)
Cut Flavio some slack. And old guy like that who isn't much to look at does pretty well for himself.
Funny, Formula1.com reported this last week, maybe Thursday on their site but today it shows the current date on the press release...
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Eric Norsworthy 11:53AM (9/21/2009)
The hearing was today in Paris so f1.com could not have had the story posted.
senna 1:06PM (9/21/2009)
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/9/9940.html
This is what I saw last week which essentially is the same as today's breaking news.