Crashgate

[Sir Stiggington]

The Renault crash case deserves it's own thread I think, certainly with the hearing coming up.

The news is that even Pat Symonds doesn't completely deny it:

Race-day meeting key to Renault case

By Jonathan Noble and Michele Lostia Wednesday, September 9th 2009, 16:20 GMT

Nelson Piquet Jr at the 2008 Singapore GPA meeting between Nelson Piquet, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds hours before last year's Singapore Grand Prix is central to the race fixing allegations surrounding the Renault team, AUTOSPORT has learned.

With the FIA's World Motor Sport Council due to meet on September 21 for Renault to answer charges that the team caused a deliberate crash in Singapore last year to help Fernando Alonso win, sources have confirmed for the first time background details of the case.

AUTOSPORT understands that key to what happened in the race is the discussion that took place in one of Renault's offices at the Singapore track on the Sunday, where race tactics were discussed between Piquet, team principal Briatore and director of engineering Symonds.

Sources claim that in evidence submitted to the FIA by Nelson Piquet, the Brazilian driver says he was asked by Briatore and Symonds to crash deliberately early in the race so as to help Alonso win.

Piquet says that he agreed to do so because he felt uncomfortable about his situation at the team, with Renault having not renewed his contract for 2009 at that time - and Briatore was stalling on making a firm commitment. Piquet suggests that he only went ahead and caused the accident because he felt he would be rewarded for his actions.

In his evidence, Piquet claims that he was taken aside by Symonds after the first meeting and instructured that he should crash on lap 13 or 14, shortly after Alonso's scheduled first stop, at Turn 17.

The reason this part of the track was singled out was because there were no cranes present there to lift the car away, so any accident would virtually guarantee a safety car.

Piquet's claims have, however, been denied by both Briatore and Symonds in documents that are believed to have been submitted with the FIA. Although they confirm that the meeting between the three of them took place, both suggest that it was Piquet's own suggestion to cause an accident.

Sources claim that the Singapore race-fix matter came to light on July 26 - the day of Piquet's last race for Renault in Hungary - when his father Nelson contacted FIA president Max Mosley to make him aware of what had happened.

Piquet Jr. then visited the FIA's headquarters in Paris on July 30 to present a statement to FIA representatives, believed to be stewards' advisor Alan Donnelly, and external investigators from the Quest agency.

Following Piquet's testimony, the three stewards from the Singapore Grand Prix, plus two external investigators from Quest, were flown to the Belgian Grand Prix to conduct interviews with Renault representatives.

A report in Italian magazine Autosprint also suggests that telemetry data from Piquet's car has emerged as another reason why the matter has gone to the WMSC.

At Turn 17 where Piquet crashed, normally the rear wheels of the Renault would lose grip on the exit - requiring the driver to ease off the throttle briefly. However, on the lap he crashed, Piquet kept accelerating even though the rear wheels had lost grip.

Briatore is reported to have claimed that he was: "a victim of extortion by the Piquet family.

"I confirm the meeting with Piquet on Sunday morning, but nothing like that was ever talked about. I also remember that Piquet at Singapore was in a very fragile state of mind. Besides that, there are the audio recordings where I express disappointment when I see on the screens that Piquet had crashed."

Symonds is also reported as saying: "It's true, during the Sunday meeting with Piquet the issue of deliberately causing a SC deployment came up, but it was proposed by Piquet himself. It was just a conversation."

Renault has said it will not comment on the matter officially before the WMSC hearing later this month.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78446

[Red_Bull]

You would expect that in order to bring the case to the WMSC, the FIA must be in possession of evidence that they think is sufficient enough to build a case against the Renault team. They don't deny such discussions took place, I expect their argument will be that it was all Piquet's idea and he carried it out on his own behalf, without authorisation. Still, it isn't looking good.

What a jerk Piquet is. What a complete idiot.

[EsPpY]

No one would dare to hire him already.

[Jocó]

It's definetely not looking good for Renault. But neither does it look good for Piquet's further career. (However, he does make comments on how bright his future looks, maybe his father will start a team after all? )

[devil500]

Piquet is an idiot. Does he really think he'll get a seat anywhere? No team will trust him unless daddy ponies up and buys him a team, and I doubt they have that type of money.

[SchumacherM]

Daddy will take a loan, recession doesn't affect the need to fulfill the childs whining for wanting a car that he can bash around a track.

[zephyrus17]

That's why I say in the other thread. No one will hire him because he seems like a spoilt millionare's child that doesn't know how to keep secrets. It's not as if his driving skill is immensely good to make teams turn a blind eye, but when his skills aren't that good, and display of potential un-sportsmanship is frowned upon. All the teams will be thinking, "If I hire him and he's not happy, who knows what he may reveal to the public just because he's pissed off? Better not take the chance"

[MP4/14]

Does it matter if they are found guilty?

According to the FIA it wont seing as they didnt get any fine or race bans or points taken away for cheating a few years ago RE Stepneygate.

[MP4/14]

Does it matter if they are found guilty?

According to the FIA it wont seing as they didnt get any fine or race bans or points taken away for cheating a few years ago RE Stepneygate.

[vikiradTG2007]

New development:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78451

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.

[Sir Stiggington]

Well yeah, they would do that to protect Alonso even if he did know about it...

[ladora]

I dunno, I don't really buy Alonso's claim that he was unaware of the alleged plan.

[HM1988]

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option...075&Itemid=219

Piquet statement.
it's doesn't add anything new but...

[ViperVX]

Some interesting passages in the statement, based on which, possibly, FIA is building the cast:

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 over the radio to confirm the lap number, which i would not normally do. I was not injured...

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 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, while the "normal" reaction would be to brake as soon as possible.

So it's pretty simple from here. FIA knows what lap Piquet was scheduled to stop, plus they have all the previous and future team radio records, therefore they can clarify if he ever asked to confirm the lap multiple times and/or if in fact lap 13/14 was his scheduled stop or somehow related to any specific action that he should've taken. I assume FIA got their hands on telemetry, so they can prove the purpose of the crash, just like they did with Schumacher's "mistake" at Monaco 07.

Renault saying that Piquet did it on his own, obviously, is pretty weak, therefore a huge penalty is in order.

[WillDAQ]

Quite frankly I hope Flavio Briatore gets banned rather than the team. There seems to be a bad culture at Renault, mostly revolving around him...

[HM1988]

Originally Posted by WillDAQ

Quite frankly I hope Flavio Briatore gets banned rather than the team. There seems to be a bad culture at Renault, mostly revolving around him...

Briatore+Symonds+Piquet should be banned at least... I agree that the rest of the team should not be penalized for the good of f1 (and Renault)...

and yes, the version that Piquet did all on purpose by his own is quite absurd... even more that after that the team renewed his contract...

[xkatieloux]

Renault are launching a lawsuit against Piquet Jr...

Renault say they are launching legal action against Nelson Piquet Jr and his father Nelson Piquet over race-fixing allegations made against the team.

The team are accused of plotting with Piquet Jr to crash during last year's Singapore Grand Prix to aid team-mate Fernando's Alonso's path to victory.

Renault says the criminal proceedings being launched in France concern "the making of false allegations".

They also refer to a "related attempt to blackmail the team".

The French team says that the blackmail attempt was in relation to "allowing Mr Piquet Jnr to drive for the remainder of the 2009 season," according to a statement released by them on Friday.

Piquet Jr was dismissed by Renault in early August.

Source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/8250436.stm

Who to believe?

Frankly the blackmail stuff sounds pretty plausible, but I think there is a good chance that Piquet Jr was telling the truth in his statement, especially with Briatore and Symonds contradicting each other in their statements.

So basically both parties could be in pretty big trouble!

[Red_Bull]

http://axisofoversteer.com/blog/docu...%20Of%20PK.pdf

Worth a read.

[Walsh_e]

Originally Posted by ViperVX

Some interesting passages in the statement, based on which, possibly, FIA is building the cast:

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 over the radio to confirm the lap number, which i would not normally do. I was not injured...
.

Wonder if he intentionally drove round slowly every race as well?

If they really wanted him to crash they could have left him to his own device's for the race, he's coming across as what he is, a spoiled little brat, hopefully he won't be back in F1 any time soon.

[pfrocker]

hmm look at :25
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuKcPg1pKh0&feature=sub[/YOUTUBE]