Crashgate

MXM said:
What's with the color scheme on that page? :lol:
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CBBC is for children, which is why the writing is very simple also, i.e;
and the safety car came out, which meant all the cars had to drive slowly and ended up very close together again.
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Well, Max will be retiring happy with having taken Briatore down with him. Of course he deserved it if all of this is true, but I don't think Piquet deserved immunity from a ban. But then it's not like he's going to be wanted in F1 by any teams anyway so that's irrelevant.
 
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GraemeH said:
Well, Max will be retiring happy with having taken Briatore down with him. Of course he deserved it if all of this is true, but I don't think Piquet deserved immunity from a ban. But then it's not like he's going to be wanted in F1 by any teams anyway so that's irrelevant.
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True, he's pretty much done, but he took Briatore down with him!

Damage limitation by Renault but it might be too late, I think they'll have a tough time from now on, as I can't imagine too many drivers will want to be associated with a team who have basically admitted guilt to cheating by not contesting, which is a problem if Alonso is really departing.

I imagine the whole thing will affect finding a replacement title sponsor to ING as well, and the current sponsors can't be happy with being associated with them.

Actually, the company my Dad works for sponsors Renault F1, but then their logo is so miniscule that we only spot it once in a blue moon, so I doubt the negative responsibility will affect them :lol:.
 
Briatore and Symonds leave Renault

By Matt Beer Wednesday, September 16th 2009, 11:10 GMT

Renault has announced that team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds have parted company with the team and that it will "not dispute" the allegations of race-fixing when it appears before the World Motor Sport Council next week.

The team had been accused of asking driver Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately during last year's Singapore Grand Prix in order to cause a safety car period that would work to his team-mate Fernando Alonso's advantage. The Spaniard went on to win the race.

"The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix," said a statement from the team.

"It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.

"Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment."

Shortly before losing his drive with Renault, Piquet approached the FIA with the allegation that Briatore and Symonds had asked him to cause a deliberate accident that would bring out the safety car in Singapore, and that his heavy crash on lap 14 of the race had therefore been pre-planned.

Alonso - who had been a contender for pole until a qualifying fuel pump failure left him only 15th on the grid - had made a very early pitstop just before the caution caused by Piquet's crash and duly vaulted to the front of the field, from where he delivered Renault's first victory of a difficult season.

FIA investigators quizzed Briatore, Symonds and other team members over the incident during the Belgian GP weekend, and subsequently announced that the team would face a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on 21 September.

Evidence, including Piquet's statement, telemetry details and radio transmissions, was leaked to the media during last weekend's Monza event, which also saw Renault announce that it would take legal action against Piquet and his triple world champion father Nelson, accusing both of blackmail.

The saga then took another twist when it emerged that the FIA had offered Symonds immunity at the hearing in exchange for full disclosure of the facts surrounding the Singapore incident.

As the Renault team - rather than Briatore and Symonds themselves - has been charged over the allegations, today's announcement by the team is unlikely to have any bearing on next week's hearing.
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78668#

This is pretty huge. Renault without Briatore and Symonds? It just isn't Renault...
 
^which likely the reason why this has been posted 3 times on the page before...
 
Do you think Briatore and Symonds have a future in F1? Maybe for a different team?
I reckon Flav's out for good, and maybe Symonds can get into anther team or probly GP2
Also, who was gonna replace Flav at Renault...
 
rowd22 said:
Do you think Briatore and Symonds have a future in F1? Maybe for a different team?
I reckon Flav's out for good, and maybe Symonds can get into anther team or probly GP2
Also, who was gonna replace Flav at Renault...
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That last thing is only going to be a problem if Renault actually stays in F1 :p

That'll be interesting :)
 
Well, Mosely can retire as a happy man; in his last year of presidency, both Ron and Flav have been forced out of F1.

Anyway, I think Symonds will find a place at another team (if he wants to continue in F1) - he's too big to be lost.
 
Both Briatore's and Symonds' carreers in motorsports (not only F1) are fnished. Over and out. The end. They better hide in a hole somewhere and never dare sticking their heads out again.

I hope that Renault sues millions out of them as compensation for the damaged Renault image.

Ordering a driver to crash his car is more, much more than any doping scandal or any corruption affair the world of sport has ever seen. This is a completely new dimension, because what if Piquet, Jr. hadn't managed to get out of the car unharmed? A team manager ordering his athlete to put his life in danger so that his teammate can win???

I always considered him a bragging egomaniac but I always thought that somewhere deep inside he still was a sportsman. I was wrong. But at least I never liked or admired him, so I needn't feel bad today.

Just remember how he was grouching about other's scandals, always the first to make accusations, feigning indignation whenever possible. In the end he was the greatest hypocrite of them all.

Good riddance.
 
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MacGuffin said:
Both Briatore's and Symonds' carreers in motorsports (not only F1) are fnished. Over and out. The end. They better hide in a hole somewhere and never dare sticking their heads out again.

I hope that Renault sues millions out of them as compensation for the damaged Renault image.

Ordering a driver to crash his car is more, much more than any doping scandal or any corruption affair the world of sport has ever seen. This is a completely new dimension, because what if Piquet, Jr. hadn't managed to get out of the car unharmed? A team manager ordering his athlete to put his life in danger so that his teammate can win???

I always considered him a bragging egomaniac but I always thought that somewhere deep inside he still was a sportsman. I was wrong. But at least I never liked or admired him, so I needn't feel bad today.

Just remember how he was grouching about other's scandals, always the first to make accusations, feigning indignation whenever possible. In the end he was the greatest hypocrite of them all.

Good riddance.
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Completely agree. Piquet, Briatore and Symonds are done IMO in motorsports. There's only one person who will ever say anything good about them on the pitlane and that's Bernie. But that's OK I think the public is beginning to see he is a little senile. :)

I speak on ly for myself ofcourse but if Briatore or Symonds ever return to a team in F1 I want that team to burn in hell. As a fan of F1 I am disgusted about this.
 
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Exactly. It makes you think back and wonder what else was manipulated.

After all, Briatore must have had some kind of power over his people, if they were willing to do such a thing for him. And if you ask me, it was complicity that held it all together.

I'm quite sure we will hear again from Symonds and Briatore, once they start to give out private gossip about each other. Because one thing is sure: After such a scandal there always comes the falling out of the participants.

And who knows what else gets into the light then.
 
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It's really getting on now...

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Spoilred cause this image should never be viewed lightly (Yes it's flavio in a thong, but at least this time it has a twist :p)

It's a sad day for beach-goers round the world

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This event doesn't bother me at all. I always assumed this kind of stuff went on so confirmation that it does means nothing. Obviously Briatore and Symonds had to go for this but I hold them in no lesser regard than I did before (which admittedly wasn't very high).
 
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