Renault escape but future in doubt

MOTOR SPORT:RENAULT'S LONG-TERM future in Formula One remained uncertain last night despite their having escaped serious punishment over the race-fixing scandal that has blackened the team's name.

As an exercise in tying up loose ends before the Formula One circus headed for the circuit that hosted the latest and most shocking in a string of controversies, yesterday’s ruling on the Singapore scandal provided as many questions as answers.

Some questioned the motives of the World Motor Sport Council’s decision to mete out heavy punishments to the men responsible for ordering Nelson Piquet Jr to crash last year on the Marina Bay circuit, but impose no financial penalty on the team that employed them.

Standing outside the FIA’s headquarters in Place de la Concorde, its outgoing president Max Mosley said that Renault would remain in Formula One and made it plain where he felt responsibility for the scandal lay, arguing that Renault had “demonstrated they had absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place”.

The WMSC accepted Renault’s explanation that it was the former team principal Flavio Briatore and the former executive director of engineering Pat Symonds who orchestrated the plot to order Piquet to crash for the benefit of his team-mate Fernando Alonso. But despite Mosley’s unequivocal words Bernard Rey, the president of Renault Formula One, was less forthcoming.

Rey was asked five times about the team’s future, which has been in doubt for some time, but refused to answer, saying only:

“We apologise for such failure in front of the Formula One community.”

Renault’s admission of guilt, combined with its action in ensuring the departure of Briatore and Symonds and a series of contrite apologies, enabled it to escape with only a suspended sentence and no fine.

It will pay costs and the parent group will make a “significant contribution” to the FIA’s safety programme, although it is understood that will involve supplying expertise rather than investment.

The lack of a heavy fine may help tip the balance in favour of Renault, which faced questions over its commitment long before the race fixing scandal came to light in July, remaining in the sport.

The former world champion Damon Hill, now president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, said there were broader forces at work.

“You can’t escape from the suspicion that it was all very expedient, given that Briatore was also one of the ringleaders of the pressure group FOTA,” he said.

“No one can excuse what happened to Piquet, it’s totally abhorrent. That has been dealt with. (But) it’s not the whole story.

“The whole story is that there has been a power struggle for a very long time and it’s got to stop because it’s ruining the sport. It’s absolutely deplorable.”

In what may be his last hurrah before he is replaced next month as a result of the high-profile rebellion earlier this year in which Briatore was a prime mover, Mosley insisted the long-term health of the sport would not be harmed by the scandal.

“We have problems from time to time and as long as we solve them and deal with them properly that’s fine,” he said.

The future plans of Briatore, who did not attend the hearing, are less clear.

He was castigated in the judgment for not showing the level of contrition that enabled Symonds to escape with a five-year banishment, instead loudly protesting his innocence and accusing Piquet of being “spoilt”.

It was the same thinking that led to McLaren being fined $100m in 2007 and stripped of constructors’ points over the so-called “spygate” scandal, in large part because it refused to come clean.

Briatore has management contracts with Alonso as well as Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Renault’s Romain Grosjean, McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Piquet.

But the FIA said yesterday that it would not renew the annual Superlicence of any driver that remained with him.

His close involvement in GP2 will also come to an end, with Renault having to find someone new to run the Formula One breeding ground as well as appointing a new team principal, while he is even banned from any track holding an FIA-affiliated event.

Another venture in which he has invested with Ecclestone is under threat as the Football League revealed its chairman had written to the FIA as it considers whether Briatore remains a fit and proper person to co-own Queens Park Rangers.  Guardian Service

Key points

Here are the key points from the World Motor Sport Council’s statement:

Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jr conspired to cause deliberate crash at 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Breaches of “unparalleled severity”.

Renault Formula One’s disqualification suspended until the end of the 2011 season. WMSC will only activate this disqualification if Renault Formula One are found guilty of a comparable breach during that time.

FIA will never again sanction any event involving Briatore, or allow him to manage drivers, or allow him access to areas under FIA’s jurisdiction.

FIA will not sanction any event involving Pat Symonds, or allow him access to areas under FIA’s jurisdiction, for five years.

Piquet Jr given immunity from individual sanctions in exchange for volunteering his evidence.

Alonso was not in any way involved.

Note Renault Formula One’s apology and agree team should pay costs of investigation. Also accept offer of significant contribution to FIA’s safety work.