Renault Race Fixing - ING terminate Renault deal

[JoostLamers]

I can see more punishment for Piquet than Renault at this rate

Definately not, the Renault bosses gave him instructions..!

[sdutt]

I can see more punishment for Piquet than Renault at this rate

Definately not, the Renault bosses gave him instructions..!

as per Symonds , it was Piquet himself who suggested it, not the renault bosses. but whatever it is, renault could be heavily penalized for knowingly allowing it to happen

[François]

Well, if proved true that would suck big time for Renault and for the sport (although F1 without scandals and off-track politics just wouldn't be F1!).

Hard to know who's telling the truth. Briatore's been known as a shady character since his time at Benetton (illegal fuel rig and driving aids scandal, keeping a black-flagged driver on track), not to mention some of his more recent statements where he comes off as much more of a businessman than a team principal. On the other hand, Piquet Jr. hates him (maybe understandably so!) and has a repute to save as a young driver, maybe to the point of making stuff up.

All I can say is that I find the scenario "believable", in that it wouldn't have required too many people to have been in, it played out perfectly in favour of Renault (everyone remembers their surprise victory, not the crashed car) and Piquet's alleged perspective (under pressure after performing poorly and afraid of losing his drive for the next season) is understandable (I'm not defending him). The crash does look suspicious too, in F1 these days you mostly see people going wide after sliding or outbraking themselves, not pushing the throttle too hard at the exit of a turn. But a believable scenario doesn't constitute any actual proof.

Whatever comes of this, I hope Renault stays in F1.

[mikhailv]

Im quite shocked to be honest.

I wouldnt have expected pat Symonds to be a cheat, he's always been an honest, genuine man and great infront of the camera's and very approachable.

I can see piquet offering to do it for a contract, trying to buy favour in his team. but lets not also forget Briatore is Piquets manager.

I think theres a more personal level with this incident; Piquet senior (as I suggested would be the catalyst!) hates Briatore from the start.

This is going to be one hell of a tit-for-tat argument, and a messy one at that.

[blizzard]

As mentioned very early in this topic:

I hope they don´t get penalized. Yeah it was unsporting behaviour, but hey noone is an angel in Formula One. I think the damage it has done to their image is punishment enough. No need for the bloody FIA to step in.

But I think they might get a heavy punishment, because they are not McLaren. If you are Mclaren you are allowed to cheat at will, you´ll always get away with it and your buddy Mercedes will pay the fee, or your team principal retires and suddenly the world is ok again, or you blame the lapping driver to be "an animal" to crash into YOU and not the other way round by lifting the throttle in torrential rain to eliminate him from the race and in the championship, because your lead driver has been poor in the rain once again and retired from the GP very early and it s the only way to remain in lead of the championship.

Boy I hate McLaren.

[mikhailv]

Alonso unaware of alleged Renault plan

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, September 10th 2009, 10:53 GMT


Fernando Alonso knew nothing of the alleged plan for Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately at last year's Singapore Grand Prix in a bid to help him win the race, AUTOSPORT has learned.

While the focus of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council hearing later this month now appears to revolve around what took place in a pre-race meeting between Piquet, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, it has emerged that Alonso was not involved in any of the tactics.

AUTOSPORT understands that Alonso was interviewed at the Belgian Grand Prix as part of the FIA investigation into exactly what took place in Singapore last year.

Sources have revealed that he told the stewards, plus representatives of the Quest agency and lawyers Sidley Austin LLP, that he was unaware that Piquet planned to crash deliberately early in the race.

It is understood that Alonso told the investigators that he had accepted his strategy to stop so early in the race simply because he wanted an 'aggressive' approach to the event.

A report submitted ahead of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council hearing into the matter, which takes place in Paris on September 21, confirms that Alonso "knew nothing of the alleged plan to cause a deliberate crash."

Sources have also revealed that race engineers at Renault were also unaware of any plan for Piquet to crash - with some of them having also been interviewed in Belgium.

It is understood that one engineer even questioned Piquet after the Singapore race about exactly what happened when he spun into the wall on lap 14 of the race. The Brazilian replied that he had simply lost control of the car.

There was also some debate on the pit wall during the race when Alonso was brought into the pits on lap 12 of the race - which was earlier than his fuel load would have allowed him to go.

Radio transcripts of the race, which have been obtained by the FIA, show that director of engineering Symonds did not share the concerns of fellow team members about making such an early stop – telling the team: "No, no, it's going to be alright."

Piquet claims that in the pre-race meeting in Singapore he was asked to crash deliberately in the race to help Alonso win, while Symonds and Briatore are both adamant that the idea came from the Brazilian driver himself.

Renault has said it will issue no comment about the matter prior to the FIA hearing later this month.

Im happy Alonso knew nothing.

He isn't a cheater, contrary to what some people say and hope to believe. And he isn't a proven liar either, just to throw a dig out there ;)

[TwistedArmco]

I can see more punishment for Piquet than Renault at this rate

Definately not, the Renault bosses gave him instructions..!

Well, maybe the Piquet family will call you up come court time, since you know so much about it...

[andrebires]

Full copy of Nelson Piquet Jr. statement to FIA

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=co ... Itemid=219

[Jaguar]

I can see more punishment for Piquet than Renault at this rate

Definately not, the Renault bosses gave him instructions..!

Well, maybe the Piquet family will call you up come court time, since you know so much about it...

LMAO , Joost is looking for a Renault F1 Seat !

[phil1993]

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=co ... Itemid=219

If Piquet is telling the truth, Renault are f***ed to say the least and Piquet will be raped.

If Piquet is lying, he will probably never drive in F1 again

Also, Piquet signed the document on 30 July 2009. What date was he sacked? Certainly within a few days either side of that date. After the Hungarian GP (26 July) everyone knew he was going...

[Totopupu]

The full document here :

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
Nelson Piquet’s FIA statement revealed

The legal statement made to the FIA by Nelson Piquet Jr has been leaked to the F1SA website. It is not clear how this has happened but we believe that the World Council dossier has been sent out and the leak must come from one of the members….


The statement made is as follows:

I, Nelson Angelo Piquet, born July 25, 1985 in Heidelberg, Germany…say as follows:

1. Except as otherwise stated, the facts and statements contained in this Statement are based on facts and matters within my knowledge. I believe such facts and statements contained in this Statement to be true and correct. Where any facts or statements are not within my own knowledge, they are true to the best of my knowledge and belief and, where appropriate, I indicate the source of that knowledge and belief.

2. I make this Statement voluntarily to the FIA and for the purposes of allowing the FIA to exercise its supervisory and regulatory functions with regard to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

3. I am aware that there is a duty upon all participants in the FIA Formula One World Championship and all Super Licence holders to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the Championship and I am aware that serious consequences could follow if I were to provide the FIA with any false or misleading statement.

4. I understand that my complete statement has been recorded on audio tape and that a full transcript of my audio recording will be made available to me and the FIA. The present document constitutes a summary of the main points made during my full oral statement.

5. I wish to bring the following facts to the FIA’s attention.

6. During the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore, held on 28 September 2008 and counting towards the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, I was asked by Mr. Flavio Briatore, who is both my manager and the Team Principal of the ING Renault F1 Team, and by Mr. Pat Symonds, the Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team, to deliberately crash my car in order to positively influence the performance of the ING Renault F1 Team at the event in question. I agreed to this proposal and caused my car to hit a wall and crash during lap thirteen/fourteen of the race.

7. The proposal to deliberately cause an accident was made to me shortly before the race took place, when I was summoned by Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds in Mr. Briatore’s office. Mr. Symonds, in the presence of Mr. Briatore, asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice my race for the team by “causing a safety car”. Every F1 race driver knows that the safety car is deployed on a track when there is an accident which leads to the track being blocked either by debris or a stationary car, and where it is difficult to recover a damaged car, as was the case here.

8. At the time of this conversation I was in a very fragile and emotional state of mind. This state of mind was brought about by intense stress due to the fact that Mr. Briatore had refused to inform me of whether or not my driver’s contract would be renewed for the next racing year (2009), as is customarily the case in the middle of the year (around July or August). Instead, Mr. Briatore repeatedly requested me to sign an “option”, which meant that I was not allowed to negotiate with any other teams in the meantime. He would repeatedly put pressure on me to prolong the option I had signed, and would regularly summon me into his office to discuss these renewals, even on racing days – a moment which should be a moment of concentration and relaxation before the race. This stress was accentuated by the fact that during the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore I had qualified sixteenth on the grid, so I was very insecure about my future at the Renault team. When I was asked to crash my car and cause a safety car incident in order to help the team, I accepted because I hoped that it could improve my position within the team at this critical time in the race season. At no point was I told by anyone that by agreeing to cause an incident, I would be guaranteed a renewal of my contract or any other advantage. However, in the context, I thought that it would be helpful in achieving this goal. I therefore agreed to cause the incident.

9. After the meeting with Mr. Symonds and Mr. Briatore, Mr. Symonds took me aside to a quiet corner and, using a map, pointed me to the exact corner of the track where I should crash. This corner was selected because the specific location of the track did not have any cranes that would allow a damaged car to be swiftly lifted off the track, nor did it have any side entrances to the track, which would allow a Safety Marshall to quickly move the damaged car away from the track. Therefore, it was felt that a crash in this specific position would be nearly certain to cause an obstruction on the track which would thus necessitate the deployment of a safety car in order to allow the track to be cleared and to ensure the safe continuation of the race.

10. Mr. Symonds also told me which exact lap to cause the incident upon, so that a strategy could deployed for my team-mate Mr. Fernando Alonso to refuel at the pit shortly before the deployment of the safety car, which he indeed did during lap twelve. The key to this strategy resided in the fact that the near-knowledge that the safety car would be deployed in lap thirteen/fourteen allowed the Team to start Mr. Alonso’s car with an aggressive fuel strategy using a light car containing enough fuel to arrive at lap twelve, but not much more. This would allow Mr. Alonso to overtake as many (heavier) cars as possible, knowing that those cars would have difficulty catching up with him later in the race due to the later deployment of the safety car. This strategy was successful and Mr. Alonso won the 2008 Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore.

11. During these discussions, no mention was made of any concerns with respect to the security implications of this strategy, either for myself, the public or other drivers. The only comment made in this context was one by Mr. Pat Symonds who warned me to “be careful”, which I took to mean that I should not injure myself.

12. I intentionally caused the crash by letting go of control of the car just before the relevant corner. In order to make sure I would cause the incident during the correct lap, I asked my team several times via the radio to confirm the lap number, which I would not normally do. I was not injured during the accident, nor was anyone else.

13. After the discussions with Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds discussed above, the ‘accident strategy’ was never discussed again with either of them. Mr. Briatore discreetly said “thank you” after the end of the race, without mentioning anything further. I do not know if anyone else was aware of this strategy at the start of the race.

14. After the race I informed Mr. Felipe Vargas, a family friend and advisor, of the fact that the incident had been deliberate. Mr. Vargas further infirmed my father, Mr. Nelson Piquet, some time later.

15. After the race several journalists asked questions about the accident and asked me whether I had caused it on purpose, because they felt it was ‘suspicious’.

16. In my own team, the engineer of my car questioned the nature of the incident because he found it unusual, and I replied that I had lost control of the car. I believe that a clever engineer would notice from the car’s telemetry that I caused the incident on purpose as I continued accelerating , whereas a “normal” reaction would be to brake as soon as possible.

Statement of Truth

I believe and swear that the facts set out in this statement are true.

This statement was made at the FIA Headquarters in Paris on 30 July 2009 in presence of Mr. Alan Donnelly (FIA Chairman of the Stewards), Mr. Martin Smith and Mr. Jacob Marsh (both of investigations firm Quest, retained by the FIA to assist with its investigation). Notes were taken by Ms. Domenique Costesec (Sidley Austin LLP).

Signed:

Nelson Piquet Jr.

[megasyxx]

looking at the singapore incident last year, it does look like it was staged. i mean, read the reactions here in the singapore 2008 thread - some said it was a delibirate crash by piquet. but then again, he could be using the issue for his own benefit.

[dragossms]

I'm really shocked Pat admitted that it was Piquet idea. I don't see this as a route to escape but an incriminatory one.

[phil1993]

The fact is, it was strange the way he crashed... normally you would brake when heading towards the wall.. Piquet didnt. Camera angles were bad tho, we need an OB and a fan view

[Tom Vandenhove]

The fact is, it was strange the way he crashed... normally you would brake when heading towards the wall.. Piquet didnt. Camera angles were bad tho, we need an OB and a fan view

I don't think there are amateur videos of it ... Only aftermath

Spoiler:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plN4kwplcZc[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIjOXbK_YLc[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRF-NN7ZwAQ[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=846CUU4gXc4[/youtube]