đź“° Auto News BREAKING: Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds leave Renault F1

Mook

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Flavio Briatore might have wished that he had been a little kinder to client and former Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet. After Piquet was sacked for non-performance following the Hungarian Grand Prix this year, he sought revenge by saying that Briatore and team engineering director Pat Symonds instructed him to crash during last year's Singapore GP. The crash, done correctly, would cause the safety car to come out, and that would give teammate Fernando Alonso the best chance of winning the race.

Piquet crashed, the safety car came out, and Alonso won the race. It's been reported that at least one driver thought the crash was suspect, and Williams' Patrick Head said Piquet confessed to a journalist after the race that he crashed on purpose. Piquet's motivation was to keep his Renault seat for 2009. Not having done that, he's got little left to lose... well, other than his career or the chance that any other team will hire him...

Based on evidence gathered, the FIA called Renault to account for its actions during the Singapore GP to the World Motorsport Council. The team hadn't been found guilty, but leaks indicated that the affair was looking suspect. Perhaps hoping to save the team from suffering over the actions of just two men, Briatore and Symonds have departed in what looks remarkably like a Ron Dennis move after McLaren's Australian GP debacle. Renault's only statement on the matter, before Monday's WSMC meeting, said that "The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix." For all kinds of reasons, happy and tragic, on the track and off, this has been the most intriguing F1 season in years.

[Autoblog]
 

IDAFC21

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yeah...thats pretty much admission right there. If it is found to be true, 1. thats probably the worst thing a motorsports team could do, and I wouldnt be surprised if renault were banned from the 2010 season, and 2. even tho piquet may have gotten his revenge, he's gonna be lucky to get a job taking tyre warmers off the cars now. But its not as tho he was a terribly talented driver to begin with, so he probably wouldnt have had to worry about getting a job in 2010 either way.

Interestingly enough...if the FIA show no clemency on renault for sacking up and removing the problem themselves, their exclusion would leave a nice big spot open for the new ferrari powered sauber team to have a permanent spot on the grid next season...hmmmm
 
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