Ahead of Monday’s Extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in which Renault faces charges of conspiring with Nelson Piquet to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the team announced today that both Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have left the team.
“The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,” a statement reads.
“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.”
Should the team be found guilty of the allegations, the range of sanctions available to the FIA range from a fine, to exclusion from the world championship.
Last Friday, September 11, the team announced that they and Briatore had commenced legal proceedings against Piquet and his father over ‘false allegations’ and ‘attempted blackmail’. The team has not clarified its current stance with regard to this matter.
The media on the other hand, read between the lines of Renault’s short media statement issued yesterday which announced that the bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds had left the team and that Renault would not dispute allegations they conspired with Nelson Piquet to rig the outcome of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by faking an accident.
The German press agency DPA said the team had “effectively admitted to race-fixing” ahead of the September 21 hearing of the World Motor Sport Council who have the powers to impose a range of penalties, from fines to permanent exclusion.
“Renault will almost certainly plead for clemency … as they will claim the actions of two men should not affect the employment of nearly 700 other staff within the team,” said the Daily Telegraph.
The Times of London agreed: “(The) governing body is likely to accept that, by admitting its guilt and by removing the conspirators, Renault has gone a long way to clearing this matter up.”
The Telegraph said it “unclear whether the pair have fallen on their swords or been pushed” by the French carmaker parent, Renault SA.
Ed Gorman, writing for the Times, made the same conclusion about Renault’s guilt, explaining that Wednesday’s events had turned “one of the worst examples of pre-meditated cheating in the history of professional sport … from … lurid allegations to fact”.
Even the wire services made no bones about interpreting Renault’s statement. Reuters said “Renault admit race-fixing charge”, AFP said the team “partly admit some role in the controversy”, while PA said Briatore and Symonds have “fallen on their sword”.
There are also other ramifications to consider, such as Briatore’s co-ownership with Bernie Ecclestone of the London football club Queens Park Rangers, and – depending on the carmaker’s reaction or the WMSC sanction – Renault’s significant role in GP2 and other motor racing categories.
Former team boss and owner Eddie Jordan told the BBC: “Will the FA (Football Association) allow him to continue to run a club?”
“As a normal person on the street I think this is a clear-cut admission and I am surprised,” he added, explaining that after decades in motor racing, he “can’t comprehend” ordering a driver to crash.
Source: GMM via F1-Live
© CAPSIS International
