As if the Renault ‘Crashgate’ saga couldn’t get any more scandalous/intriguing/bonkers, things have taken a huge turn today as the team boss and engineering bloke have ‘parted ways’ with the French outfit.
Head honcho Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds have both left the squad, and Renault say they won’t dispute the allegations when they go up before the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) next week.
So basically, here’s how it played out:
The Piquets told Max Mosley and the FIA that Nelson Jnr was, er, encouraged to crash during the Singapore night race last year in order to help Fernando Alonso win.
Flav and Pat say that’s rubbish and the Piquets have made it all up.
A pit wall transcript from the night race gets leaked at Monza last weekend.
Renault say they’re taking legal action against the Piquets, accusing the Brazilians of blackmailing the team.
Flav appears to out Jnr, says he can’t believe what the Piquets are saying.
Flav and Pat leave Renault…
So it looks like Renault will pin all the blame on Flav and Pat at the WMSC hearing, and hope to not get too harshly punished.
But, as I asked the other day, if McLaren got fined £100 million for reading some Ferrari stuff they shouldn’t have, what’s going to happen to Renault?
It’s all quite a mess. And if Alonso gets his Singapore win taken off him – which surely he must if the team is found guilty – then Williams’ Nico Rosberg will have won his first ever F1 GP.
Twelve months after it happened.
If nothing else comes out of this, you’ve got to now think that Jnr has some big cojones to deliberately stick an F1 car into a wall. Especially if he didn’t lift off the gas. Imagine how he must have felt, just before the impact?
Guilty as charged then.dose that mean if the race was a fix,can I get my money back???coz I was there and it happend straght infront of me!!!!!
According to Max the result of the race will not be changed, its too late to be messing around with last years championship
as said: heavy shit. And I didn’t see this comming.
At least not so soon.
As for Nelson Piquet? I honestly don’t know what to think of him.
Brave of plain dumb. You can be both at the same time.
so he’s 3 things: Loyal, brave & dumb.
I still think, a part the singapore race 2008, he still has done a poor rookie season.
…and here’s another thing. Imagine a piece of the debris from Nelsons’ crash hitting another driver in the face, like what happend to massa. What then?
Nononono, when you consider what could have happened:
BAN Renault, and maybe, yes Nelson had the “cohones” to do what was asked, but I say he had a choice NOT to do it, but did it nevertheless thus putting the health/lives/careers of other drivers at stake doing it. . No more F1 for that, Nelson.
I don t think renault will get off too badly. their not mclaren after all.
That was dumb of renault… Why can’t f1 teams play fair?
Yes, what if the crash had caused injury or death to a corner worker or other driver?
All involved should be banned from all forms of racing. Forever.
Jeroen, why BAN Renault? What a silly thing to say. The sport is going through turmoil at the moment, the financail crisis is hitting the sport hard, so the last thing we need is another team/manufacturer leaving the sport. Yes they need punishing, a fine (not a stupendous one like Mclaren stupidly got) is more appropriate and stripped of last years points and win.
This is just a shambles and I hope Piquet Jnr never races in F1 again. No loss really. I mean, asking him to crash is like asking a flower to blossom or a pig to wallow in mud, it’s gonna happen regardless!
Silly, Silly, Silly
Certainly a strange situation. This is far more serious than the Mclaren incident but I think a fine of over $100 million would be risky because the team could just pull out leaving hundreds of innocent workers left in the lurch.
If Renault are found guilty, hopefully Briatore and Symonds would be punished – lets say in the form of being banned to work for/ run a F1 team for a period of time.
I think they will have to be at the hearing because they were there at the time
they wont be changing results of last years race, that against their own rules.
“Imagine how he must have felt, just before the impact?”
Well I did see some big skid marks!!!
i think we all have a little part of inner child lurking inside of all of us that would love to crash an f1 car.
i know theres one inside of me!
Well, if they are guilty it’s one less team off Jenson’s back.
And anyway, if they are excluded what about engine supplement for Red Bull???
Flav and Pat shouldn’t have sacked Piquet.If they hadn’t sacked him he would keep his gobhole shut and it would have saved their asses.
Flavio should also have his “Driver Manager’s” license revoked. After reading NP,Jr’s offical statement it sounds like it was a “if you want your seat in 2009, as your team principal and your agent, I recommend you take a crash” kind of deal. Absolutely despicable!
And Flavio was all over McLaren a few years ago…. what a hypocrite. He should be kicked out of F1 all together.
And you’re telling me Alonso had no idea this was going to happen?? I think this story has some legs on it yet…
Also, does anyone else think that maybe there’s a lot more to Piquet’s lack of performance at Renault than we all first thought?? It sounds like he was never really given a fair chance.
All in all, a pretty embarrassing and damaging situation for F1, but i have got to say, in a way it kind of makes the sport more interesting, like they say, all press is good press (well not for Renault maybe maybe!!)
I’m quite glad to see the back of Briatore, but I realy don’t want Renault to leave the sport just through the cock that is Briatore and he oversized ego.
I am French and the only thing I can say is that Renault made a fine move by kicking both guys out.
I do favour a life ban from motorsport for both men, and anyother person involved (including Piquet Jr).
I favour the whole team being suspended of participation in FIA F1 championship as a manufacturer, but can be allowed to distribute engines (for lets say Williams). The team must continue their efforts in developping young talents (GP2 series, WS by Renault)…
Regarding sanctions for last year’s race Rosberg is a winner and that’s it. Renault should not race in Singapore
Surely if Briatore etc. try to get Piquet done for blackmail, Piquet can use the same card: he was blackmailed to crash or loose his seat at Renault… I don’t think this is nearly finished yet.
Well that’s them guilty as hell, I don’t imagine either or Briatore Symonds being let back into motorsport, and what team would want them? I do have the feeling though that this will just lead to the Renault board deciding to pull the plug, this kind of scandal will not just go away.
There’s no way in hell that Alonso knew nothing about this. Garaunteed, he was in on it, Flav and Pat were desperate to keep Fernando for another year… there was a lot of talk at the time about where Alonso would go.
I think this whole thing was pre-planned in some meeting directly after quali, as a bit of an incentive to keep Alonso.
I’d say Alonso knew and then Flavi and Pat asked the peacock sunday morning (Peacock’s testimony).
Cos this time last year Fernando looked like he had no intention of staying with Renault, unless they could get him a winning car!!
GET ALONSO OFF—- HE WAS IN ON IT FOR SURE!!
BUNCH OF CHEATERS THE 3 OF THEM—- PROBABLY MORE
Well, well, well!!! Briatore & Symonds had the arrogance to threaten to sue for blackmail when they knew they were guilty. Personally I am glad to see the back of Briatore and his over inflated ego. Comes across as a nasty piece of work.
If Briatore, Symonds and Piquet are all out of the team, and they were the only ones in the know, then perhaps punishing the team as a whole by exclusion would be unfair and counterproductive for F1 as a whole.
Monday’s hearing will be an eye opener, that’s for sure!!
they deserve all that comes to them.they all knew what was happening.to make a kid who wasnt doin what the team wanted i,e results wise crash so he can keep his job is sick so in that way i feel very sad for nelson and the sport of f1 bullies shouldnt be given the time of day.lets take rose tinted glasses off fernando knew aswell its a team sport kick em all out.
the f,i,a need to look at voiding the result of singapore as it was a fix and the costs passed on to renault f1 they must never be allowed to be involved again it needs nipping in the bud properly that accident could have had dire concequences what would we be talking about now corprate manslughter??nelson at the end of the day wanted to keep his job an showed his imaturity if they would have asked enyone older and more experienced they would have walked away and be left to cheat another way wich could have worse outcome so good riddens to a team of cheats whingin c.,/s
sad to say.. nothing good will come out of this..
and besides.. nelson was going to crash anyway!
happy now Nelson?
now all you have to do is convince everybody that the 50 other crashes/spins were deliberate as well!
friggin’ cheat ruined Massa’s year!
Let me guess, if you hadn’t been sacked you would taken this circus stunt to the grave!
ban this guy from motorsport!
flavio will be annoyed now as alonso won the next race to get the sponsorship
and if the f,i,a void the race wont that make massa champ as lewis came 3rd in the race mmmmmmmmmmm
that will make lewis and his dad smile?
Of course Alonso had nothing to do with it.
Just like he had nothing to do with the Mclaren spying episode.
Yeh right, what a load of rot.
Sh1t just seems to follow him around, dont it.
Lets see what evidence there is they are two greats of F1
I wonder if we will hear that Renualt are pulling out of F1 there is more to this than NPjnr saying I was told to crash.
Now if it is the case that NPjnr was told to crash then Flav and PS should get life time bans as should NPjr its one thing to say crash and put every ones lif in danger its another to turn into the wall. With all that Carbon fibre and body parts we could have had a Massa crash or a deflation of a tyre after hitting carbon splinter sending a car into a marshals post. The book needs to throw at the persons who said do carsh please and also to NPjr as he did it and put peoples lifes at danger
@karl2878
The FIA have already said they can’t change the race, so they are unlikely to do anything and they couldn’t void the race because Massa’s problem had nothing to do with this incident. The most likely thing to happen is the win will go to Rosberg.
Wow, and Briatore had the audacity to rip into Ferrari or Schumacher in the past?
I hope “Renault” get banned, there a rubbish team and another teams could take there place i.e.. Priodrive or Lotus.
Nothing short of booting them out will do. Look at what Mclaren got for having bits of info they shouldn’t. This is an entirely different ball game, lives were at risk, especially having marshalls on a street circuit clearing up a deliberate crash. If they don’t hit Renault extremely hard, it will be clear that Mclaren have been dealt with unfairly, and too harshly in 2007.
Nelson was so sh.t words can’t describe. If I’m right he contested 28 races and crashed his car on 17 different occasions.
So he is expirienced in this department and no better person to pull stunt like that. But he even failed at that and to more expirienced viewers it seemed dodgy from the word go.
On one hand I feel a bit of sentiment to Flav. He was the most colorfull character in the paddock. Sort of F1 old school.
On the other it is such a bad,stupid thing to do. It doesn’t matter who came up with idea Nelson Jr, Flav, Pat or eyebrow. It is right thing to punish those involved.
And aldough Nelson helped Max big time in getting his own back, he shot him self in the foot. Unless his father sets up a team we will not see that c*nt on the grid ever again.
Presured or not he had loads of options to get out of it with face. Instead he continued on path of sh*tness right till the end.
Good. I never liked him.
I am still shocked. We heard about the rumors the other week. But I am still shocked! How can anyone ask someone to crash for any reason – what a poor human being. What a way to use people against other people. Evil. Twisted. I remember Flav during 90’s Benetton and Schumi – what a hero back then. On the other hand, how does anyone crash on command? You don’t do that lightly without seriously thinking about it first, so, it ought to have been quite a conversation before the race. I’m shocked.
Nico wouldnt win, as he benefited from the crash as well, the entire race would be invalid. But honestly, I think that stuff is all sealed up now so they will not tack any measures concerning that.
And I do not want Renault banned, we need more constructor teams, not less.
If Renault got kicked out, expect a new team next year called Reno, with a driver called Ferdinand Alfonso.
tottaly agree with nherogo. im shocked!!! that a team experinced as renualt whould ask a driver to crash on purpose!!! they should thow the book at them!!!as for alonso not knowing wat a load of crap!!! he know wat was going on and as of which he should be banned as well!! i do feel for NPjnr tho yes he was stupid to do it but he was niavie and trying to save his race seat that doesnt excuse his actions tho. not only risking his life but every1 elses at the same time.
This was well planned, someone must have really pissed Jr off ! Good luck Jr getting a job in a team when trust plays a major part of any sport
Max Mosley should punish all of them………. Wait what?
New French Car Scrappage Scheme Available.
Rather than trade your 10 year old wreck in for a new Renault.
Simply drive your new Renault into a 10 year old wall and wreck it…..
Sponsors Pat, Flav n Al
Its totally legal…?
Regards
Nelson P.K
And please journalists…..will you stop putting “gate” onto scandals. Its F@~@~ng stupid!!!
I’ve taken a look at the telemetry, of which Symmonds said it was “unusual” for a driver to keep pressing the throttle when spinning. I thought “oh, so he did CRASH on purpose…”
But to CRASH is not the same as to SPIN… THEN I COMPARED THE TELEMETRY WITH THE VIDEO of the crash itself; It is “unusual” indeed for a driver to keep pressing the throttle if he wants to avoid a SPIN, yes, but what he had to do was to keep on doing exactly that, AS IF HE HAD NOT KEPT ON SPINNING, HE WOULD HAVE CRASHED THE OPPOSITE BARRIER NOSE-FIRST!
So, after comparing both the telemetry AND the video one sees that what Piquet did was simply avoiding a more severe crash: he jerks the accelerator three times when exiting the corner so as not to hit the outer barrier, and then he is ejected STRAIGHT into the INNER wall. He then presses the pedal all the way so as to spin the car and make it crash sideways or back-first.
COROLLARY: Proof he did not want to CRASH but to SPIN to AVOID a crash.
That’s low, it’s makes McLaren look like models of integrity. Why is F1 so farcical? Why can the not just actually race?
To shame Flav. and Pat.
I’ve read the transcript and Piquet’s statement. I can’t see anything damning in the dialogue between Symonds/Flavio/Piquet and the engineers. Piquet’s statement…Well, it just seems really far fetched to me. I’m just not sure what Renault’s motive would be, to the extent that they would put someones safety and wellbeing at risk. Okay, they win the race. But in the grand scheme of things, you know its not as though a World Championship was at stake.
I think what Piquet’s done here is slam the door on any chance (slim as it would have been otherwise) on getting another Formula 1 drive. His career in this category is over. It’ll probably hamper his chances of certain drives in other categories as well. I mean, he’s either agreed to partake in an extraordinary case of cheating, or he’s flat out lying. Either way, he comes out of this with a nasty black mark that’s going to follow him the rest of his racing days.
@Deaddonkey; Yeah I know. It doesn’t even make sense.
They are all a bunch of cocks, but NPJ is the biggest of them all. If you go to the link in the article above (“out Jnr” in blue) it is obvious that the little pansy is sore that they got rid of him. It’s like he’s having a “crisis” while blabbing to the authorities, the little b@#%h!! And if the article is to be believed, he really is a complete pansy (wink wink), I even noticed by the way he ran away from that “accident”.
Sorry, I digress, but it really annoys me to see that the real men in sport are dying off. OK, so he’s annoyed that they fired him for sucking, but if he had any kind of balls he would have done a quiet deal behind closed doors to extort them for millions, like a proper gentleman. After all, he’s so crap he can’t get new employment can he?
I’m no bully, but this is the kind of kid I’d beat up for no reason: smug tell-tales. I hope Godfather Briatore whacks him violently.
Ciao Flavio, we will miss you, not.
Piquets father and son, you are both the same material as those guys. Babye.
Ban Renault for a year and open the space for the new BMWhatever. Don’t worry about the mechanics, 3 new teams will hire the good ones with all that info in their heads.
Case closed.
May be we should look at it from another angle – there is no such thing as bad publicity. Sacrificing mediocre team and a few disposable executives for the sake of getting lasting stream of steaming hot news for the sport rapidly losing audience may be a good deal – you may get more viewers, more buzz and ultimately more money…
Conspiracy theories forewah.
He is yet another angle, they used Piquet’s natural talent for crashing, so nobody was really suspicious about him crashing. But of courxse it’s a bad thing to fix a result that way but FI is not known for high moral standards and ethics, it is a sport, entertainment where a lot of money is going around.
Did not expect this to happen as the radio communication showed a furious Briatore after the crash by Piquet.
However it all seems like a deal to me. Renault ousting the two, escaping heavy sanctions on Monday but announcing their departure from the sport at the end of the year. A deal possibly agreed with FIA.
would you not think that it is connected somehow with max mosleys s.xgate???flaw and the thing or mclaren cheating or something like that? surely there is a lot going on behind the scenes????
@Paulom.
You ask me “why ban Renault? what a silly thing to say”.
Come one Paulon, you really think Flavio & Pat are the only ones in the Renault team who knew of the fix. And you really believe that if Renault continues without those two, Flavio & Pat won’t be operating from behind the screens?
Ban ‘em. Right now. And Like i said to: Nelson Piquet never again in an F1 car.
Yes it’s crisis. But already 3 new teams are entering next year. And BMW is saved.
So what’s the deal.
Not a good thing for Renault, that’s for sure. But I’m sure that they are not the only one who has secrets they don’t want to talk about. About fixing a race, I remember few years ago when Schumacher was still driving for Ferrari with Barrichello. Rubens was leading the race, but it was Ross Brawn who gave the order to him to slow down just before the finish, so Schumacher could win it. This was also fixing a race I would say!
I hope that Renault can now turn a new page and start it over again, like McLaren did after their numerous scandals involving reading Ferrari’s documents and driving-behind-safety-car scandal when they lied about given instructions to Lewis in the first race of this season.
In my opinion Piquet is just a bad loser, nothing more. He can’t accept that others are better than he is. And when Renault sacked him, he started searching for revenge. It’s not surprising, if it’s actually his father idea in the beginning.
Does jnr really think that he gets to compete in F1 ever again?! If he does, I wonder how desperate that team should be then.
Wat happens to all the money people bet on the race i.e if u put money on either Nico to win or vis versa wats going to happen then
This you can read from conditons where you made your bet. Usually results this long time ago will not change even if Alonso loses his win today.
#54. It’s not the same thing at all you idiot. Mclaren had bits they shouldn’t, and got the boy to fib about his race result. Ferrari made no bones about Rubens bending over for Schumacher. Would you want to stand on a narrow street circuit with no run offs, and cars passing you at 50 – 70mph, clearing up bits of plastic for the sake of a nob of a driver, and a pompass team that can’t take the fact that they don’t win anymore. Trust me you Wouldn’t IT IS F****** DANGEROUS. Marshalss have been killed in the past by ACCIDENT, most recently in Australia, and Monza both in the late 90’s. If anyone had been killed or injured as a result of this, people would be going to prison. It MUST be stamped out now so as it never happens again.
Talk about balls: imagine Briatore considering giving Piquet the sack, knowing that he’ll flap his lip sooner or later. Sleepless nights.
What was that TG-blogseries called about real men racers? Haven’t seen it for a while. I think Piquet jr. is worth a listing.
Reading here some of those comments like, ban Renault forever etc. etc. It shows how short is people’s memory. Ferrari has also done race fixing in the past, a different kind, but still a fix. And also McLaren has done possible race fixing.
There has been so many scandals in the F1 history, so if all of them had been banned, there would be very few teams left today.
@59 They all have, at one or several points, fixed something. Stakes are too high to abstain from playing dirty. But ordering your driver to crash is in a new despicable league. None too subtle either, I remember a lot of people -me included- suspected a fix at the time. It was too convenient to be accidental.
@59 OK races fixes have been done in the past by Ferrari & the mclaren boys weren’t pure neither with their we’ve-got-secret-ferrari- documents. But neither one of those two put the lives/health/career of other people at stake. there’s a (HUGE) difference between asking barichello to slow down for schumacher to pas or asking 1 of your drivers to crash!
Dave Richards and Pro-drive will probably take over the running of the team under the Pro-drive name.
Mclaren was fined 100 mil for spying in Ferrari’s paper work. Alonzo was in Mclaren.
Renault is now in a scandal for the Crashgate. Alonzo is their driver right now.
hmmm! conspiracy theory!
The question now is no longer about whether or not Renault is guilty, as they clearly are. It’s now become a question of “who knew, and who’s idea was it?”
Hmmmm I would never have belived it. I hope that all the evidence is shown to us and they punish the team as much as the driver.
If fact more so I team can surgest but to actualy carry it out and risk lives is another thing hopefully the next time NP jnr is paid for driving with will be as a taxi driver
the shittest season ever!!!!!
Slower cars, no spark from anybody, no overtaking, Slower cars, nodding off through qualifying, ugly looking cars, stupid rules and NO MORE CHARISMA OR GLAMOUR OR R A A A A C I I I N G! Who gives a flying f*** about the Renault bosses, or Mclaren spy saga or the rest….I WANT MY SPORT BACK!!!!! Its only getting WORSE!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
What a season, what will happen next??
I was surprised to read about the 2 top men at Renault ‘leaving’.
Lets see what is said on Monday after the hearing, i will be reading.
no more blue glasses.
You would have to conclude that the two departees have been ‘let go’ by Renault. No company could reconcile that kind of behaviour with their corporate image, even merchant bankers would struggle there. It surely marks a new low in cynicism and makes a mockery of the sport. This is what happens when you get the wrong people at the top. I’m sure the main consideration when Renault is looking for replacements will be those old yardstick character traits of integrity and honesty. Puts the whole McLaren thing involving Ron Dennis in a new light in my mind. His personal conduct was found to be above reproach – quite a contrast from this pair, in what was a much less serious scandal. Could you imagine working as an engineer say, knowing that this kind of thing was being plotted by the team leaders? A pretty poor example. Then you’d have to guess that not many people were privy to this plan apart from the Piquets, the outgoing bosses and maybe a select few others. How else could they have got away with it? Those lower down the company food chain would surely have had serious misgivings, purely even from a safety point of view, leaving aside the glaring ethical issues. I can’t imagine that most other team leaders would even have the temerity to think of something like this, let alone carry it out. Doesn’t it also raise the question of whether this is a one-off, or more disturbingly, if similar travesties have been carried out or discussed in the past? Its just a shame that in future every crash will be viewed by some with suspicion because of this madness.
Don’t expect to get any information on this or any other F1 contraversy from the “official F1 Website. Once again, F1 has it’s head burried in the sand, hoping it will all come out ok in the end
I did not want to believe, when i heard about it.This is criminal behaviour, and it should not only force FB and Pat to step down, they should be prosecuted, of race-fixing, betrayal,bribery, not to mention, risking lives,(not only drivers, but stewards and spectators as well). They should both have ALL their licences nullified.
(Including manager&driving license, Boat permit, etc). Their Bank accounts should be frozen by FIA(until they can prove, their money was amassed in a legal manner), so those two have to work their way up again, from the frakking GUTTER. Maybe that’ll teach them a lesson about “Abuse of Power” and “Fairplay”. Especially Flav could profit from that.(I hate this Primadonna) I wonder, if he still could get a girl, Like Heidi Klum, or Naomi Campfbeil HeHeHe
Conspiracy Theory/On:
On the Other hand, this scandal is very useful for the FIA/MaxMooseplay. Remember who was the main rival for Lucca Di Montezemolo, as successor to MadMax? Yup, Flavatore.This scandal is certainly big enough(and right on time) to write this unwanted candidate off.
(I d’still vote for Ari Vartanen,if i had a voice in that one). And to me, it smells a bit fishy, if the FIA promises “free of charges”-agreements, (it’s not their style usually).Conspiracy Theory/Off
reminds me of the blacksox scandal in baseball.
just because the players (or racers) did something scandalous and wrong doesn’t mean that the whole team deserves to be kicked out. i doubt that the bosses at renault knew it was going on.
but i think alonso did play a part in this, although he will surely play dumb. he and piquet should be banned from F1 forever.
Renaults next commercial would sport the slogan: “Manipulateur d’Automobiles”
if they wouldn’t sack those two guys.Bad, really bad for their reputation already.If Flav gave the order to crash, everybody who knew about it, should be kicked out of the sport.You know, Sport is per definition a competition within rules.Interpreting those rules usually ends with a disqualification.”Bending ” a suspension for a season, and “Breaking” is usually worth a Permanent Ban (as with Doping in a Tour de France, for example). I would like to see a full replay of that race, with all cameras in the Renault pit activated. to see, if the mechanics knew as well, or just the supervising staff.(The 3-4 blokes at the Pitlane would definitly be involved,or know about it).
This thing is far from over(especially if Flubbriator wants to fight it out with FIA, and against the Piquets).It would only make things worse for Renault.
If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough… I personally think that the odd dirty trick here and there to pick up some points isn’t a bad thing, but Renault got caught red handed… full marks for trying, just remember not to get caught!!
even though renault should be punished at least as equally as mclaren were over spygate, they wont be. renault are supposedly on the brink of leaving anyway, i can see them maybe downsizing to just being an engine supplier. i can fully imagine sleazy slimy briatore organising the race fixing, but i thought pat symonds had a greater moral calibre than that, seems i was wrong. they should never be involved with motorsport, let alone any sport in the future. QPR should sack briatore because he will only find a way to cheat there! he is in the same boat as dean richards.
Andy000 said…
If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough…
Sorry, but you completely miss the point in sports.
If you re too lazy to exercise hard enough to be competetive, admit it. Don’t be a Sportsman. They are paid quite well for being the best at what they do.That’s because it is HARD to get there.If you re not willing to sacrifice your comfort, try something else,but DON’T CHEAT.
It’s about who is the best at something, not about who has the dirtiest trick at hand.
I, as a sports Fan,(doing sports myself, but just as a hobby) want to know, who is the best at (whatever discipline) they do. Of course, i cannot compare to a Michael Phelps in swimming for example,(i don’t have Tweety’s Feet, nor a arms like an Orangutan)but even if i see him in training, i can just say: “i would drown after a minute”. And he does this kinda stuff 6 days a week,9-13 hours a day.And that’s what i am able to Admire.It’s a Job, a tough one. But if you’re really into it, with body and soul,you also deserve the money and fame, that comes with it.
Now, in this case, (if i had been Piquet jnr). I would not want to drive for a team, that orders me to crash, just so they can score a win.I would wipe my ass with their contract,(they would sack me anyway for the other driver) and head straight to the FIA, right after the race. You could call me a traitor, but fact is, My “Team” betrayed me.
today “Corriere della Sera” (the main Italian daily newspaper) wrote an article that I’d like to share with you (http://www.corriere.it/s port/09_settembre_17/eccl estone_mosley_briatore_re nault_piquet_8657956e-a3c 2-11de-a213-00144f02aabc. shtml)
i’ll summarize by points:
- 28/9/2008: piquet jr crashes in singapore
- 30/9/2008: piquet jr’s contract option expired – not renewed yet by briatore
- 30/10/2008: piquet sr talks with charlie whiting in brasil about the “crashgate”. whiting replies that there is no evidence.
- 2/11/2008: briatore extend piquet jr’s contract, but his salary is reduced from $ 1,5 to 1 million, with the option of further salary cuts depending on performance. is this a move of a blackmailed team boss?
- 24/7/2009: piquet sr talks again about the “crashgate”, this time with ecclestone, during the very last f1 weekend of his son.
- valencia 2009: renault risks to be banned because of the lost tyre. why no action agains brown and the fact that they lost a spring bar, causing massa’s injury?
- renault pleaded guilty before FIA, but is taking the piquets in a french tribunal. why?
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i don’t know if the above info is facts or not..
anyway, i personally believe the team ordered piquet jr to crash.
now the fia is using this story to obtain (already obtained) briatore’s head.
i think it’s not fair that piquet jr has been offered immunity. pressure or not pressure, young or not young, gay or not gay… he could have refused to do it, and if he had lost his place in renault he could still have talk about this story… and walk away with his driver dignity.
mounting a scandal one year after is just an evident sign of will of revenge
This is just the most ridiculous scam of all times.
Briatore shall be banned from any involvement in motorsports for the future with a massive fine to take his billionaire playboy ego down to earth.
No loss for the sport really…
Symonds is a technical mastermind like Ross Brawn, I doubt it was his idea, he just calculated the figures.
NP Jr. on the other hand should lose his Superlicence and be banned from 1-2 seasons of racing as this is totally unacceptable. Even if he’s dumb enough to crash into a wall at 100 mph (which he is) he should have realized that there are more than 2 cars on the track, not to mention the stewards and other staff, so risking other people’s health for any reason is just plain stupid.
Telling someone to crash is one thing, but being a careless selfish piece of human junk that NPJr was is unacceptable. I sure hate Briatore for all the conspiracy and messing about, but now sh*t hit the fan and he’ll have to smile and swallow all that, but NPJr is a mindless moron who should not compete ever again, after all F1 cars are not remote controlled, unless a dumb ass driver is ready to do whatever is needed to keep his seat.
Look at Lewis for example. He just crashed because he’s a true racer, like Rosberg and Vettel. They’ll push the pedal to the metal to win, even if it’s the last lap. Lewis also said that he probably wouldn’t have pushed so hard if anything was at stake. If he can calm his nerves, why can’t others? At these speeds any lapse of mind could be lethal.
As for Team Renault, their disappearance from F1 would be a shame, as it’s a team of 2-300 something people working real hard, so banning them for the mistake of one Italian asshole and a Brazilian mindless wreck would be a mistake. As for Alonso, I’m not sure whether he’s always in the wrong place or he has something to do with these scandals, but I think he’d have been happier driving a Red Bull or a Ferrari this year than sitting in that useless piece of carbon fiber, therefore I assume he’s got nothing to do with the current case.
Anyway, as long as Jenson and Brawn are out there leading the champs, I don’t care. Truly deserved British victory. I just wish Sir Frank would buy a M-B engine next year, so both British teams would be up front…
Kind of off topic, but I’d like to see Rosberg in a more competitive car. Maybe a McLaren?
piquet should stay in formula 1 so each time a team need a kamikaze could land him.
the whorst thing is that he admit to crash a car on porpouse.
buuuuuuuuuu shame.
No wonder Junior kept his seat for so long.
If it really was just Flavio & Pat then penalising Renault F1 will punish the wrong people.
But there may be a case for Flavio & Pat being charged with attempted manslaughter.
Has this ever happened in NASCAR or INDYCAR?
FIRST!!!!
Its really interesting to see what Rennalt will do with regards to teh Singapore Grand Prix next weekend…I’m sure tehre will be a lot of boo-ing, like whenever David Beckum or Edward-o take to the pitch in football, but I’m not all together sure whether they will even be allowed to stay in the sport by the WMSC this Monday.
We will find out, any how. I bet that NPJ felt rather hemmed in by teh bribery that Briatore and his cohorts plied him with…crash, or lose your seat. He had not had a very good season any way, so he mustve thought that he would not get a very good chance to get a decent seat in the next year.
It is always teh case that one driver is given preference in a team, and I believe that in 2008, Alonso was given a better car than his team-mate. This was much the reverse of what happened to him and Hamilton in 2007, where the rookie was given preferential treatment over the two-times world champion who was his team-mate.
I think that this preference was one of the causes of Piquet’s poor performance in 2008 (continuing on into 2009), and I think he was rihgt to tell on teh Rennalt team about teh bribery, espesially as he did it to keep his seat in teh first place
btw .. also Alonso must have known and even the FIA knew already since the race last year.
McLaren-Mercedes were fined 100mln usd for absolutely nothing during 2007 (also Alonso involved).
Now the FIA must fine Renault even more, no choice, but Renault is French (and so is the FIA) and might leave F1.
At least Alonso´s racelicense should be taken in.
I find Piquet a real prototype of a treator, if your boss asks you to do something like he did, crash his car on purpose, he should have refused to do that, but I feel that he thought that was the way to keep his seat, so Piquet is as much to blame as Symonds and Briatore, he showed his true colors, no character, rubbish driver and I do hope that he will never be allowed to race an F1 car anywhere.
Guilty, and Piquet is unemployable now. Ha, Ha Flavio!
Most worrying is that Flav is some kind of driver agent-promoter-mentor (isn’t Webber one of those under his wing?) Surely he needs to be banned from continuing with that kind of thing..
If people from the press, and even the FIA, have ‘known’ about this for almost a year, as now seems clear, isn’t it disingenious for Alonso to claim he’s known nothing?.. He must’ve been involved at some level – wouldn’t be surprised if he piyched the idea to Flav tbh, but even if he was ‘innocent’ at the time of the incident, he must’ve learned soon after that he’d ‘won’ a race due to the team’s cheating.. And yet he sat on it..
Maybe, just maybe, this is the root of the problems with Mclaren – perhaps Hamilton wouldn’t agree to drive into walls for him?…
Hopefully, the press will now scrutinize Flav’s career with Renault to see what other shenanigans have been going on – this is the team that won the championship in 05 and 06, remember, with Alonso in the ‘first driver’ position – hope people have a good, good look at races in those years, too..
Well Alonso did won this titles due to Michelin, ´the big French connection´. Just note soon as Michelin left Renault was nowhere. He must have known, the FIA should take his racelicense. Fact is that the FIA is also not clean in this case, it stinks.
Now we know what Flavio is prepared to do in order to win. Roll back to 1994 : was the Bennetton using hidden software ? Did Schumi crash into Damin Hill on purpose ?
@77, is Piquet Jnr gay?
First I’ve heard of that one, are you just planting a seed?
Think I’ll head to Paris for the crash-gate hearing. I’m not invited, I’ll gatecrash.
Oh I see that Ferrari are abstaining from the vote (alleged) what’s the bets Alonso leaves squeeky clean and coincidently moves to Ferrari for ‘10?
…Hey TG how’ about a discussion on the musical chairs for ‘10?
Kimi to McL, Alsono to Ferrari, etc?
ive just read on an other post the that bernie thinks that the fia will be leinent because renault have shown flav and pat the door.am i rite in saying they wernt sacked they left on ther own accord and also b,e is one of the fia panle and i think one of the biggest misscaridge of justice is about to take place and im not supprised and the sport will today lose all respect it was just keeping hold of what a shambles.i dont think many fans will be left.RENAULT made ther driver basicaly a kid drive into a wall to keep his job risking his own life and that of his co competitors trackside fans and marshalls and others so his whingin spoilt team mate can take a victory and they all will walk away laughing smiling.and bernie should be protecting the sport and fans and other teams by not letting this happen makes you wonder how dirty this sport realy is and was bernie involved too i think we are gonna find out soon ??????
what’s the point of a suspended ban?
i knew this morning when i read what bernie said said about being lienient that the outcome wasnt going to be credable.they have given 2 yr suspended ban to the team and banned flav and pat from all activity for five years.it isnt a problem to them they have enough dough never to work again and the team arnt botherd either as they can still race and they wernt even fined on all counts the fia found them guilty its just a shambles from top to bottom
how can this be justice when mclaren were fined all that money for holdind ferrari docs used or unused they never put peoples lives in danger this is a very bad day for f1 as a whole and may never recover from this the only way it can is for bernie and the heads of the fia to stand down and replaced drastic measures are needed now what a laughing stock these people arec corrupt
mclaren cry babies here we come
Max Mosley is once again the winner, his rival Briatore is gone and Renault and Alonso walk away.
Hard to explain indeed why the FIA punished McLaren-Mercedes so much harder during 2007 over what was nothing in comparison to this.
Or is it because the FIA is French?
As a tifosi I can only hope the Scuderia will be smart enough to stay away from Alonso but this Santander deal makes me fear…
btw .. #96 .. grow up
i couldent give a flying ,,,, for mclaren what i said was they got delt with very harsh for the files they had and renault have got away with what can only called a finger waggin big changes are needed very quickly for the sport to get some respect back from the fans who at the end of the day without them there would be no f1