September 16, 2009

Renault's Big Two Out: Managing Director Flavio Briatore and Director of Engineering Pat Symonds have stepped down from their positions with Renault F1 after the French team announced that they would not contest the FIA's assertion that the team ordered driver Nelson Piquet to crash at last season's Singapore Grand Prix.

posted by Mr Bismarck to auto racing at 11:09 AM - 7 comments

Previously on SpoFi.

Also, a transcript of the team's radio chatter during the incident has been released.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:10 AM on September 16, 2009

Wow. Pretty quick turnaround from suing Piquet, calling him spoiled, gay, etc. I wonder if Alonso was in on it?

posted by dusted at 11:46 AM on September 16, 2009

I am a massive Alonso fan. I believe he's the best driver in Formula One right now.

If it turns out that he knew about this, words cannot begin to describe how disappointed I will be.

I've been following this sport for 22 years now. I am just horrified at all this. When the allegations came out I thought that as much as I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't see Piquet making up such an outrageous lie, but I was dearly hoping that it was all his own doing to prove he was a team player...

An extremely dark day for the sport.:(

posted by Drood at 12:24 PM on September 16, 2009

Alonso knew about McLaren having Ferrari data in that delightful incident, so I'll be unsurprsied if he had at least an awareness that this was going to happen.

As an aside, I'm with Drood on thinking he's the best driver in the sport at the moment. The things he's managed to wring out of the recent recalcitrant Renault have been fantastic.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:27 PM on September 16, 2009

Did you see the BBC interview this past weekend? Where he said he didn't think he was the best, but that he was consistent.

The Ferrari data thing I didn't see as that big of a deal to be honest. Stuff like that has been going on in the sport for decades! It's part of the sport. I remember Peter Windsor saying that in the 80's when he was at Williams he went into the truck one day to find a rival team member in there measuring parts. Plus there's the information personnel take with them in their head etc... I really thought that was overblown.

This is a whole different kettle of fish though. Alonso saved F1 for me in '05. I came very close to stopping watching.

Really hoping he didn't know and was innocent...

Edit: Just read that radio transcript. Proves nothing really.

I wonder if Symonds and Briatore fell on their swords to save Renault with this?

What with this, and Lewis lying to the stewards after Melbourne...

Pretty disgusted with this "sport" right now.

posted by Drood at 12:34 PM on September 16, 2009

I think it's clear that once Renault said they were going to throw themselves on the mercy of the FIA, the only way that could work is if the administration that was responsible for the decisions were gone. With these two gone Renault can point fingers and say "it was us, but really it was them!"

It's the defence that saved West Ham's premiership status.

As for the Ferrari data, teams have been gleefully stealing from each other for decades, yes, but this seemed to go beyond an imaginary, (and probably arbitrary), line.

My Dad did some F1 design work and openly admitted he "looked over the fence" a lot, but this seemed like McLaren climbed over the fence, broke into Ferrari's house and then put Ferrari's wife's knickers on their head.

Common sense does seem to be lacking this season.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:50 PM on September 16, 2009

My Dad did some F1 design work and openly admitted he "looked over the fence" a lot, but this seemed like McLaren climbed over the fence, broke into Ferrari's house and then put Ferrari's wife's knickers on their head.

LOL! Thank you for that wonderful image. Needed that.

I still wonder if Mosley is behind this. Mosley said last year that he knew who set him up for the News of the World. (I am still sickened by the fact I have seen that man naked.) He also said that he would get the person who did it. And now, right at the end of his presidency, Mosley conveniently gets Briatore's head on a platter.

Timing seems too perfect for me. Not saying the allegations are nonsense, not at all, I, sadly, believe them to be completely true. But I wonder if the diligence with which they've been pursued has something to do with revenge?

Regardless, it's been a sad few years for the sport. With corruption in other sports I always looked to F1 and thought how hard it'd be to fix results... Naive I know.

Thing is, Ferrari race fixed. We saw them do it in Austria when Rubens let Michael past. We saw them rig the end of the US GP. Ferrari are scum. But they never did anything clandestine. They always stabbed you right in the chest, not in the back.

Curious to see how the FIA play this. If they say "You fixed the result" then they can point at Ferrari. If, however, they do Renault's legs with "endangering spectators, marshalls" etc... Then they have a leg to stand on.

Renault are obviously trying to save themselves. Clearly with Symonds and Briatore gone they're hoping for a stay of execution, but I actually do hope Renault are thrown out of the sport. We've already had one sacrificial lamb this year with McLaren and Lewis essentially getting away with lying because they made one of their team fall on their sword, and I still firmly believe Whitmarsh was behind the order to lie, but justice, however idiotic, was seen to be done.

The FIA have always looked spineless, but to let Renault get away with this and claim "regime change" and all that is horseshit... It's no deterrent to teams to not do it again. Who's to say Flav and Pat didn't have a flutter on the result when Alonso qualified that low. Odds must have been pretty awesome. They'd have made out huge.

Letting Renault off seems ridiculous. The FIA NEED to smack them hard, possibly even boot them from the sport and make an example that these bloody manufacturers (it's always the bloody manufacturers isn't it...) need to keep their houses in order.

Though in reality I expect a ultimately meaningless fine and a ban from the constructors championship.

If Alonso did know (and the footage we've seen of him talking about the safety car to Flav after the race seems to indicate he didn't... I hope!) then I'm disgusted. The Ferrari data was one thing, and it was Alonso that triggered the whole revelation of that by threatening to go to the FIA... But this... I just can't it myself. If it does come out he knew, then I have sorely misunderstood the man and all the respect I have for him will be gone.

Monday can't come fast enough! (And, on an unrelated note, Halo ODST is out the next day so... YAY!:))

posted by Drood at 02:03 PM on September 16, 2009

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