Renault split with Briatore and Symonds

ITV-F1



Renault F1 has parted company with team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds over the race-fixing allegations made by its former driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

Piquet has accused Briatore and Symonds of asking him to help secure victory for his then team-mate Fernando Alonso in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix by crashing and triggering a safety car period that played perfectly into Alonso’s hands.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Renault said it would not contest that charge when it appears before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council next Monday.

It added that Briatore and Symonds had now left the team.

“The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,” the statement said.

“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.”

Renault’s statement appears to amount to an admission that it conspired to cause a crash for its own competitive benefit – an offence that FIA president Max Mosley said last weekend would be more serious than cheating or race-fixing because it put human lives at risk.

Mosley said that if Renault were found guilty, a severe penalty would be warranted and the World Motor Sport Council could go as far as banning the team from F1 for all time.

“It could be anything up to disqualification,” he said.

“Because that's what's set out in the [International Sporting Code].

“Disqualification means you are out, finished.

“Out. Total. Exclusion forever, gone, finished.

“That is the worst that could happen.”



what are your views on this?!?!

link [www.itv-f1.com]

Wow, just wow. Like Chet said in another thread, it's likely that Symonds will be hired by another team, would be foolish to just let his expertise simply disappear. As for Flavio, might be more difficult, he COULD go on a consultancy to one of the newer teams, but we'll see.

But, the FIA must first see what the full story is before it decides to start handing out lifetime bans, simply banning the team or parent company from F1 forever based on the actions of 2 or 3 people (all 3 major suspects have now left) is ridiculous. The FIA could end out looking silly if it was a collusion between Symonds and Piquet because they both have immunity now, and scapegoating an entire team of innocent folks will NOT go down well.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2009 03:06PM by Team CLR.

man i cant belive it. I knew that back with schumi 94,95 they made some crap but this is the worst that could happen. I really liked both because 05 and 06 alonso Flavio pat and giancarlo was my dream team and now flavio and pat are gone i am really pissed of because of that ugly basterd piquet. He sucks big time man an he and his father should burn in hell forever.Just my opinion so dont throw me of here because of that.

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"And thats the bottom line cause Alonso0506 said so"

alonso0506 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> man i cant belive it. I knew that back with schumi
> 94,95 they made some crap but this is the worst
> that could happen. I really liked both because 05
> and 06 alonso Flavio pat and giancarlo was my
> dream team and now flavio and pat are gone i am
> really pissed of because of that ugly basterd
> piquet. He sucks big time man an he and his father
> should burn in hell forever.Just my opinion so
> dont throw me of here because of that.

Any team with a little bit of sense won't touch Piquet.

Only way I can see Piquet back in F1 is if daddy buys him a team, even then he probably wont get a warm welcome from many of the fans

renault wanted a reason to quit f1 for a while now, this is an easy route.

theres no problem as theres already more than enough teams for next season.

also gives alonso that extra reason to jump to ferrari now.

i expect symonds to head over to redbull.

and maybe piquet snr to buy the leftover renault team.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

danm Wrote:
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> renault wanted a reason to quit f1 for a while
> now, this is an easy route.
>
> theres no problem as theres already more than
> enough teams for next season.
>
> also gives alonso that extra reason to jump to
> ferrari now.
>
> i expect symonds to head over to redbull.
>
> and maybe piquet snr to buy the leftover renault
> team.

Well there is one problem, Reanult supply engines.

Renault could just supply engines, they did it for 8 years in the late 80s / early 90s.

---

Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

What I find a bit funny is going back to F3 was it not the Piquet team that people said were cheating somehow?

turkey_machine Wrote:
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> Renault could just supply engines, they did it for
> 8 years in the late 80s / early 90s.

Yes, Renault could supply engines to a Prodrive or Epsilon Euskadi entry if they wanted to.


Team CLR Wrote:
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> Like Chet said in another thread,
> it's likely that Symonds will be hired by another
> team, would be foolish to just let his expertise
> simply disappear.

Maybe, but i wouldn't be surprised to see Briatore and Symonds banned from the sport altogether, at least for a year or two.

---

X (@ed24f1)

well Symonds will be given immunity if he speaks in time so I suppose it's just a ban on Flavio. I think anything over 10 years would mean he'd retire from F1 and live off being a manager.

Guimengo Wrote:
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> well Symonds will be given immunity if he speaks
> in time so I suppose it's just a ban on Flavio.

That might chance now he's been fired. I wouldn't bank on Symonds getting away with this one, and, like Piquet, teams will be rather hesitant to talk to him even if he does.

Though I'd imagine one of the new teams will snap him up given the smallest opportunity.

Guimengo Wrote:
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> well Symonds will be given immunity if he speaks
> in time so I suppose it's just a ban on Flavio.

But since Renault plan to 'not dispute' the case, i doubt he will be giving them any more information. I think they are both going down together.

---

X (@ed24f1)

guys... since this race in singapore already happened, could they strip alonso of the win?

if they do, would this field a new winner? or would they nullify the entire race?

that had dramatic consequences on the championship, massa if i remember rightly wasnt doing too badly. this could have cost him last years title.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

The results won't change, I think it would have just increased Lewis' lead anyway. Shame that Nico was robbed of a win.

I think this is the last we hear of Renault in F1.

As a team, anyway.

Mclaren got a $100m fine for something much less dramatic and significant. This is a dark day for F1.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

jbnd05 Wrote:
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> The results won't change, I think it would have
> just increased Lewis' lead anyway. Shame that Nico
> was robbed of a win.

Yeah as Lewis would have come a positon higher, so he would win the title by more than the single point.

IMO Flavio should definately be banned and Symonds should be punished very heavily as well. Good riddance on them that they've been fired.

mika19b Wrote:
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> Yeah as Lewis would have come a positon higher, so
> he would win the title by more than the single
> point.

Massa was winning the race though. It's probably fair to say that Ferrari wouldn't have made the same mistake had there not been a mad rush for the pits. OK, he might not have won (who knows?), but he almost certainly would have got points.

As has been said though, nothing is going to change now.

i've never really forgotten how Benetton got off with the TC investigation after it was found on the car, but couldnt be proven it was used, despite MS rocket starts, FB & PS back then too ( couldnt be arsed to write the full names :P)




LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

I don't like to think about the different result because then we'd see Massa was very affected by it but there's nothing to be done, the championship ended and Lewis was crowned champion. Dwelling on the past will only bring bad things, thinking of "what if"s will take away focus from the present.

Dan, I'd not say this was more or less significant than the McLaren spy thing, to me both are at the same level, and both Pat Symmonds and Flavio should get the same punishment as Stepney and the other guy.