Renault Charged For 2008 Singapore GP Crash

[Chris Elyea]

Still unknown whether Little Piquet brought forward the new info that led to the charge. Bernie earlier stated that if Piquet was involved, he should be punished, too. Bernie also said he feared anything that might prompt another manufacturer to drop out of F1 and didn't sound in favour of digging up past actions.

Renault will meet with the WMSC on September 21.

Renault summoned before World Motor Sport Council

[DJ Lazy]

Oh man!!

This season is such a gong show....

If Piquet is the result of this "new evidence" you can bet he has sealed his "retired" fate in F1... I can't see any team wanting to fill a seat with a snitch, even if they have nothing to hide, but we all know that most teams always have something to hide.

At least most of the bad attention has been taken off Mclaren for the latter part of the season.

[Chris Elyea]

Originally posted by DJ Lazy
I can't see any team wanting to fill a seat with a snitch, even if they have nothing to hide, but we all know that most teams always have something to hide.

My recollection is that Alonso, torqued off because McLaren was favouring the higher ranking Hamilton, voluntarily provided the FIA with e-mail evidence during Spygate. It hasn't hurt his career. If you can win, they'll forgive you.

[Chris Elyea]

Renault is so screwed!

Rumor has it that:

- Piquet is the source of the info behind the charge
- telemetry proves he crashed on purpose
- Flav and engineering director Pat Symonds do not deny that's what happened, they just claim it was all Piquet's idea

Link to Autosport news story

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by Chris Elyea
If you can win, they'll forgive you.

Piquet Jr. is not a 2 time world champion... or a winner for that matter. Big difference between Alonso and Piquet

[cloud7]

Originally posted by DJ Lazy


Piquet Jr. is not a 2 time world champion... or a winner for that matter. Big difference between Alonso and Piquet

Yup... so bye bye Piquet Jr...

[Chris Elyea]

It gets better!

Renault has initiated criminal proceedings against Piquet Jr. and Sr. They are accused of blackmail!

Formula1.com news article

[Mibz]

Alonso needs to GTFO so nobody important suffers from the hella-drama.

[rage2]

Doesn't blackmail involve Piquet Jr. and Sr. getting something in return? AFAIK, he's fired, and isn't asking for anything.

[Team_Mclaren]

From what I understand, Piquet Jr just ensure himself to never be able to get a seat in F1 or competitive racing again... what an idiot

[urban.one]

The Renault statement says:"... related attempt to blackmail the team into allowing Mr Piquet Jnr to drive for the remainder of the 2009 season. The matter will also be referred to the Police in the UK."

It would seem this drama has been going on throughout the season and started long before Piquet got fired. The blackmail could be Jr and Sr saying to Flavio "How can you fire Jr knowing you told him to crash? Fire him and we go to the media with what we know. Let him run all of 2009 and we keep quiet."

Originally posted by rage2
Doesn't blackmail involve Piquet Jr. and Sr. getting something in return? AFAIK, he's fired, and isn't asking for anything.

[Chris Elyea]

Max Mosley said earlier today that Piquet had been granted immunity from being punished over the affair.

A very strange decision!

[urban.one]

Doesnt matter much. Nelson Jr is done in F1 so any punishment from FIA including taking away his super license would be meaningless.

Originally posted by Chris Elyea
Max Mosley said earlier today that Piquet had been granted immunity from being punished over the affair.

A very strange decision!

[Chris Elyea]

Flavio brought it to a new low today. Now he seems to be using innuendo to imply that Piquet Sr. was concerned that Little Piquet might be gay. Given Flav's lifestyle, he probably considers this to be a grave insult to Little Piquet's manliness.

More of Flavio bashing Little Piquet

[Chris Elyea]

Autosport publishes part of Pat Symonds responses (or lack thereof) to the FIA

Apparently they've now offered him immunity, too. Because they don't have a case yet? And why didn't he deny things outright? Because there really was a plan? Is Renault's blackmail charge just a way of making sure everybody goes down?

The hearing is just under a week away, but I wonder if we'll ever know what really happened.

[Team_Mclaren]

man someone is definitely out to get Flavio.....

[Mibz]

And it worked. Flavio and Symonds have left Renault and Renault isn't going to challenge the charges against them.

[Chris Elyea]

It's been given a name: Crashgate

Flavio and Pat Symonds have left Renault. By their choice or Renault's?

Renault will not dispute allegations

And I thought Ferrari's team orders were underhanded! This, well, not much is worse than this. There have been a few cases of drivers crashing into other drivers to secure the WDC (Senna and Schumacher to name two, and also two of the most talented and beloved of drivers, I might add), so I'd say that was worse. Not much else, though.

It's actually more like a NASCAR trick. Drivers have been known to throw equipment out the window to get a debris caution or take other action to draw a yellow flag. They don't even penalize it that heavily. It's not something I want to see in F1.

With Flavio, Pat Symonds, and Little Piquet gone from F1, likely for good, what can the FIA do? Sure they can throw the book at Renault, but would that entice yet another manufacturer to pull out? I sure hope that Renault can convince the FIA they've handled this better than McLaren handled Spygate. I hate to see a whole team get penalized for having a few lowlifes on board.

[Chris Elyea]

Originally posted by Chris Elyea
Flavio brought it to a new low today.

Missed this on Sunday - nice to see Reubens has enough character to stand up to Flavio!

Barrichello slams Flavio's remarks

[urban.one]

I dont know what other ending this could have had but its sad to see these two guys leave F1.

Look at all the characters we've lost from F1 in the past few years: Eddie Jordan, Ron Dennis, Jean Todt, and now Falvio.

Rumour is Alain Prost will replace Flav. Anyone remember Prost GP?

In case anyone doesnt know, Flavio had a kid with Heidi Klum before she hooked up with Seal.





Heres some other random Flavio pics: