Renault to not contest race fixing charge

[Hibs Class]

It's a bad day for F1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8258987.stm

[Jack]

Flavio Briatore has left his position as boss of the Renault team after they decided not to contest charges of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Executive director of engineering Pat Symonds has also left the team.
Renault were summoned by governing body, the FIA, after Nelson Piquet Jr claimed he had been asked to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso's race.

Full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8258987.stm

Flavio Briatore always has been, or appeared to be, a rather flamboyant character with a glint in his eye.

Now kicked, or hounded, out of F1 amid allegations of cheating. How will this dishonestly tag affect his other business interests, like the football club he partly owns.

Or is it safe to assume he has only been dishonest in F1 and on only this occasion!

I wonder. :hmmm:

… and another thing.

Is Piquet an innocent in this affair? :bitchy:

I would say he’s worse than Briatore and Symonds on the grounds that he was happy to do it and keep quiet all this time. He only let the cat out the bag in a fit of pique (see what I almost did there? :greengrin) when he was found out to be a fairly unordinary driver, by F1 standards, and sacked.

Banned from all motor sport for life I say, a smirch on his fathers reputation.

[NOLA]

bit of a shocker this one! have briatore and symonds been told to resign by the heid honchos at Renault in the hope that the team on the whole isn't banned completely as briatore and symonds acted without the knowledge of the bigger bosses? they acted on their own and in their eyes with the good of the team in general in mind, however Renault are a massive company and cheating loses them massive respect and prestige in F1 with potentially huge repurcussions. so in that respect flavio and pat had to go but what of piquet? he was happy enough to deliberatly crash his car so must carry some of the can you would think?

[Hibs Class]

They seem to have got off pretty lightly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8266090.stm

[(((Fergus)))]

Didn't realise that Symonds used to be Schumacher's race engineer when he was at Benetton

[(((Fergus)))]

They seem to have got off pretty lightly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8266090.stm

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA sanctioned events for an unlimited period.



Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

That's quite hefty, Symonds is basically banned from working in motorsport for five years! FIA have obviously taken the view that it was Symonds/Briatore to blame and not Renault as a whole. Since they have been removed, Renault has done all it could already.

[Hibs Class]

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA sanctioned events for an unlimited period.



Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

That's quite hefty, Symonds is basically banned from working in motorsport for five years! FIA have obviously taken the view that it was Symonds/Briatore to blame and not Renault as a whole. Since they have been removed, Renault has done all it could already.

From what I can gather, they haven't even been stripped of the Singapore victory that this cheating achieved?

[(((Fergus)))]

From what I can gather, they haven't even been stripped of the Singapore victory that this cheating achieved?

I was wondering about that, what can of worms it would open, mind you Hamilton was third in that race, Rosberg second so it shouldn't have affected the driver's title

[Gus]

Didn't realise that Symonds used to be Schumacher's race engineer when he was at Benetton
:agree:

I grew up round the corner from Pat & his wife at the time (who my mum was very friendly with) & his son & 3 daughters, who where of similar age, he always seemed an honest chap, really down to earth. He took my brother & I to Silverstone for a "shake down" with Benetton when Schumacher was there & it was amazing. I remember his house being a shrine to formula one. And I have very fond memories of dancing with his attractive daughter @ his 40th birthday :wink:

He clearly went on to bigger things & for one reason or another he has allowed his judgement to be clouded for success. He lives & breathes F1, I'm not defending him but it does seem him & Flavio have been made the scapegoats.

I will check my facebook friends (the symonds daughters) to make sure all is ok.

[OtterHibee]

They seem to have got off pretty lightly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8266090.stm

Renault have been treated fairly leniently you could say, but I still think it's ludicrous that Piquet's involvement has been completely disregarded due to this immunity agreement.

You would hope that if even for to salvage something of his already tarnished reputation if not due to his own guilty conscience, he would have been capable of telling the whole truth anyway without effectively being bribed by the FIA.

Hopefully this is the last incident of its kind for a good while at least. Formula One could really do with a break from the sort of negative press generated by the blatant stupidity of certain personnel within the sport. It's been bitterly disappointing to see figures of the ilk of Briatore and Symonds getting themselves involved in something so ridiculously insane as this.

[Gatecrasher]

No sponsers on the Renault car this weekend :hmmm: