Renault to face race fixing charges
Eurosport - Sat, 05 Sep 12:44:00 2009
The Renault Formula One team will face charges of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help Fernando Alonso win, the FIA has announced.
The FIA said in a statement that Renault representatives had been summoned to an extraordinary meeting of its World Motor Sport Council in Paris on September 21, the Monday before this year's Singapore race.
The charges were that "the team conspired with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso".
If found guilty the team could be kicked out of the championship they won in 2005 and 2006.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has already warned the allegations could prompt Renault to walk away from the sport.
Renault, whose team boss Flavio Briatore co-owns English football club Queen's Park Rangers with Ecclestone, released a brief statement which read: "The ING Renault F1 Team acknowledges the FIA's request for representatives of the team to appear before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on the 21st of September 2009. Before attending the hearing, the team will not make any further comment."
The team were accused of breaching article 151c of the international sporting code, which covers "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally".
McLaren were fined a record $100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points for breaching it in 2007 in a spying controversy involving Ferrari data.
Renault and Piquet, whose father and namesake was a triple world champion, parted in August and Brazilian television reported allegations about the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend.
Double world champion Alonso won the sport's first night race, his first victory in more than a year and from 15th place on the starting grid, after Brazilian Piquet crashed and brought out the safety car.
Alonso had just refuelled at that point, a lucky break for the Spaniard who was able to come through and lead to the finish.
Ecclestone told the Times newspaper on Tuesday there was a danger of Renault following Honda and BMW out of the sport.
"All I know is Flavio is insisting he knows nothing about it," Ecclestone said, adding the Italian was "well and truly upset".
Renault replaced Piquet Jr in August after he failed to score a point in 10 races, a parting that triggered an angry reaction from the driver who accused Briatore of being his "executioner".
"If it's just young Piquet saying this because he wants to say it, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, there's some reality to it, then it's all different," said Ecclestone.
"It will be difficult to prove. If there is something on the radio that said, 'Er, Nelson, you'd better crash now,' then what the hell can they (Renault) do? It depends exactly what comes out of the investigation."
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Comment 223 - 242 of 242
Ohhh yes. At last. What a team, Renault, Alonso and Briatore. Just thise three names should be enough to demand and enquiry. One is reluctant to presume guilt but those three names really do beg investigation
"No mates", you should have realised by now Uncle Colin Smith is fixated about Lewis Hamilton running 8 Kg lighter than some of the other drivers down in 10-20th place. It's the one shining light of truth in his increasingly senile mind so he hangs onto it like a drunk clutches a lampost while he spews up yesterdays chicken curry.
a here isa real a reply a ginger a muppet got:
Well that was quick. I got a reply from Yahoo with regard to the idiot who calls himself Potter, Potter Asun and Potter JNR.
Here it is:
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Message Boards.
Ina this a particular a case, how a dare a you a cast a aspersions ona the a great anda wise a POTTER you a ginger a muppet. Please a know a that a
Yahoo isa unable toa fulfill a your a futile a request a toa get a wise a potter a removed. We are not able to make exceptions to this rule.
mea want a toa know a what a ginger a muppet isa smoking
mr a hamilton asun say he stay with mclaren men for life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say? you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is the german engine. everything about the team is the german. mr a hamilton asun now the swiss gentleman he eat much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr a hamilton a father is also now the swiss man. in fact there nothing british about this team at all. even the man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in the time warp. not even the people abducted by the alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap. IT IS A DISGRACE!!! ANOTHER CHEATIN YEAR IN 2009 FROM MCLAREN AND CHEATIN BASHIN MR A HAMILTON ASUN
3.ive followed F1 for years but im losing interest in it ,the past 3-4 years have shown what a corrupt sport it really is
Tell me muppet.potter why are you still harping on about the race weights at Valencia? McLaren came up with a strategy that gave them a second place, so not a bad strategy?
Why do you publish the weights of those drivers that did not make Q3, there weight dont relate to their qualifying performance but I forgot you dont know anything about F1 do you?
Try adding the words with the comma " competiton , like " after the word "championship" in that sentence and you will see it makes more sense .
Once again you need to be told the grammar is bad , the sentence is just stating they won the championship for those years not they will be stripped of the title , you would not say "kicked out" of something you have already won years ago rather you would have said something more obvious like "if found guilty they could stripped of the championship title they won in 2005 and 2006" . T
what does the alleged fraud of Singapore 2008 had to do with Renault's 2005 & 2006 world championship if they are found guilty of the Piquet's accident??? why would they be stripped of it??? the issue in question occured more than a year after their back-to-back championship . . . alonso went to mclaren for a year & returned in 2008 so what's the connection???
BERNARD WHERE ARE YOU TW-T, OR ARE YOU POTTER OR MARNIO, OR CINDY IN A PINK SUIT ?
John I have been wondering as there seems to be quite a bit coming from teh Massa camp, whether as a result of his accident he and his familyt have bvecome more aware of the dangers of stray bits of car flying around a race track, and whilst Massa tackled Flav last year after the race, he now thinks he should so more?
SO POTTER IS BERNARD, YOU ARE DUMB TW-T GET OF THIS FORUM
Yes, because of the sloppy journalism in the article, I too thought at first that the 2005 + 06 championships might be affected, bu having thought about it, I don't think that will happen.. It sounds very possible however, that they may be stripped of everything from this year, and maybe disallowed from taking any further part.. I do wonder however if this would have come up had Mr Piquet not been given the push.. I rather suspect he is merely lashing out.. The incident in question is really something that should have been dealt with on the day, and not a year later, but given the seriousness of such an allegation, regardless of how long afterwards it has been made, and of its truth - or not, as the case may be - I understand why the FIA have to investigate it.. It just remains to be seen what happens, and what effect this will have on the sport..
a_imeri, ignore the bit about 2005/6, that is just sloppy journalism, what they meant was they will get kicked out of a championship, one they have won in the past
It is not clear to me what really means " If found guilty the team could be kicked out of the championship they won in 2005 and 2006"? Does it means that only the team will be punished? What about F. Alonso?! If they cheated, wasn't that done for his benefit, not just team's? I was checking out the results of the '05 - '06 championships, and if so, then I guess that will mean another trophy for Schumi and Kimi. Interesting. We shall see. It didn't happen to Hamilton when McLaren was stripped off the points in constructors championship. Any comments about this?
Am I surprised? No. What are my expectations? an under the table agreement would occur and nothing would happen
George B its because he is a feeble minded racist.
Who cannot cope with the fact that we are all equal.
Rumor has it his shrink is trying but fears no hope but they do take good care of him in the asylum
now i know why the Indian government calls it expensive entertainment and not sport!
Well the drama keeps coming. I love this sport.
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