SPORTS> What Is Hot
|
SPORTS> What Is Hot
|
|
Renault gets suspended ban in crash scandal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-22 17:01 PARIS: Renault escaped severe punishment Monday for ordering former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash in a race, receiving only a suspended ban from Formula One.
A permanent disqualification from the sport will be handed to the team if it again breaches the FIA's rules within the next two years. Flavio Briatore, who quit as team principal last week, was banned indefinitely from any F1 activities by the World Motor Sport Council. Engineering executive director Pat Symonds, who also left Renault last week, was banned for five years after expressing his "eternal regret and shame" that he participated in the conspiracy. "The penalty that we've imposed is the harshest one we can impose which is disqualification. That means complete exclusion from the sport," FIA president Max Mosley said. "We gave them a suspended sentence because Renault demonstrated that the team had no responsibility and the company even less. The penalty for Briatore is that he is no longer associated with the FIA series."
Alonso, who attended the hearing in Paris, was cleared of any wrongdoing. "He answered all the questions and demonstrated that he had no responsibility in the case," Mosley said. FIA described the scandal as being of "unparalleled severity," but the departure of Renault's top two men meant the team avoided being thrown out of F1 or handed a heavy fine, although they will pay for the investigation. "I think it's the right one, I think the blame has been placed where the blame should be placed and I think that was the right decision," Mosley said. By comparison, McLaren Mercedes was handed a record $100 million fine two years ago after being found guilty of using Ferrari secret data to enhance its own cars' performances. "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," FIA said. "The World Motor Sport Council considers that offenses of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship. "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." Renault team president Bernard Rey gave no response to a question about whether Renault would stay in the sport next season, but Mosley said that the French team's representatives "gave us the impression that they will stay in the sport." Two constructors have already pulled out of Formula One in the last months -- with Honda stopping its activities last December and BMW announcing that it will quit at the end of the season -- and it has been rumored that Renault would leave as well. "We informed the FIA last week that we would not defend the charges and we accepted our responsibilities in relation to the incident in Singapore and we immediately took appropriate action inside the team," Rey said. "Today, we fully accept the decision of the council. We apologize unreservedly to the F1 community in relation to this unacceptable behavior. "We sincerely hope that we can soon put this matter behind us and focus constructively on the future. We will issue further information in the next few days." After apologizing before members of the World Motor Sport Council, Piquet Jr. said he was relieved by the investigation's outcome. "I bitterly regret my actions to follow the orders I was given," Piquet Jr. said in a statement. "I wish every day that I had not done it." The 24-year-old Brazilian driver, the son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet, hit a severe blow to Briatore. "All I can tell you is that my situation at Renault turned into a nightmare," said Piquet Jr., who joined Renault at the start of the 2008-09 season before being fired this July. "Having dreamed of being a Formula One driver and having worked so hard to get there, I found myself at the mercy of Mr. Briatore. His true character, which had previously only been known to those he had treated like this in the past, is now known." Piquet added that Briatore, who was also his manager, "had my future in his hands but he cared nothing for it." "By the time of the Singapore GP he had isolated me and driven me to the lowest point I had ever reached in my life," Piquet Jr. said. "Now that I am out of that situation I cannot believe that I agreed to the plan, but when it was put to me I felt that I was in no position to refuse." Mosley said he felt "sad" for Briatore but that the FIA had no other choice but to suspend him for life. "It's sad because he's been in motor sport for twenty years, more actually, at the top level, and it's sad to see a career end like that but what could we do?" The Renault scandal is the latest in a series of controversies in F1. The year began with challenges over the legality of several cars, including pacesetting Brawn GP, under new technical regulations. Soon after, defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren admitted to deliberately misleading a steward's inquiry. That prompted the departure of the team's sporting director, Dave Ryan, while team boss Ron Dennis also stepped aside. The Formula One Teams Association also threatened to quit F1 and launch their own series, the culmination of a power struggle that characterized the often antagonistic relationship between the teams and the sport's officials. |
