Left field

Formula 1 starts 2010 with a headache

Former champion Niki Lauda did not mince his words last year when he said that Formula One’s Singapore Grand Prix race-fixing scandal demanded the heaviest of punishments to restore credibility.

A Times headline called Brazilian Nelson Piquet’s deliberate crash at the 2008 race “the worst act of cheating in the history of sport.”

Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban, with the authorities eager to keep them in the sport, while former team boss Flavio Briatore was barred for life and his engineeering head Pat Symonds for five years.

Piquet, the driver at the eye of the storm, walked away without sanction after being handed immunity for telling the governing FIA how he had obeyed orders to help team mate Fernando Alonso to win the race.

This week’s decision by a Paris court to overturn the bans on Briatore and Symonds leaves the sport’s reputation no stronger.

The worst act of cheating ever in the sport? The biggest let-off, more like.

Sure, Renault have suffered a huge blow to their reputation but their punishment was suspended and will be lifted altogether at the end of next year.

Suspended sentence for Renault — does the punishment fit the crime?

The news has just come in from Paris, where Renault have been handed a suspended ban from Formula One, while their former boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from all F1 activities, including driver management, and ex-technical chief Pat Symonds is barred for five years.

So the immediate result of the inquiry into race-rigging at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix is that Renault can stay in the sport, provided they stay on their best behaviour for the next couple of years, even though the offence was described by the FIA as one of “unparalleled severity”.

Does that punishment fit the crime, would you say?

It’s well worth reading the FIA media release on this in full. It confirms that Renault admitted conspiring with Nelson Piquet Jr to cause the crash. Here’s a section of the statement:

The World Motor Sport Council considers Renault F1’s breaches relating to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to be of unparalleled severity. 

Renault F1’s breaches not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself. 

The World Motor Sport Council considers that offences of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship. 

Briatore, Symonds step down from Renault

There’s an extraordinary story breaking just now, with Formula One team Renault releasing a statement saying they will not contest the charge that last year’s Singapore Grand prix was fixed.

Renault also announced that team boss Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds have left the team.

Briatore and Symonds were both due to appear before the governing International Automobile Federation to answer charges that they ordered Brazilian Nelson Piquet to crash in Singapore a year ago to help Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso win.

If found guilty, the team could be kicked out of the championship.

Piquet, 24, was dropped by Renault in August and has testified to the FIA that he was told when and where to crash during the sport’s first night race in Singapore.

Renault and Briatore had in turn accused the Brazilian and his father, a triple world champion and namesake, of false allegations and attempted blackmail.

Monaco madness

You can charter Flavio Briatore’s Force Blue ‘yacht’ for $235,000 a week during the low season. For that, you get five decks, a gymnasium, Turkish steam bath, cinema and cabin space for 12 guests.

There’s also a mud bath and massage room.

Unfortunately it’s not available during Monaco Grand Prix week, but then life is full of disappointments.

Somehow I suspect that Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the team bosses, including Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, didn’t get the most out of the facilities during several hours on board on Friday talking about the future of the sport.

The irony of the fact that they were meeting on a boat that probably cost its owner a sizeable chunk of the 40 million pound budget cap that they were so opposed to was not lost on those waiting on the wrong end of the gangway.

I might as well come straight out and admit that I love the Monaco Grand Prix.

Button the Bollard?

Formula One championship leader Jenson Button came up with a nice riposte to being likened (in terms of speed) to a kerbstone (‘paracarro’) by Renault boss Flavio Briatore:

“He also needs to remember that he tried to employ me for this year.”

If that is indeed the case, then it prompts several observations.

Firstly, was Briatore trying to ditch Nelson Piquet (no great surprise, perhaps) or looking for a replacement for Fernando Alonso?

Piquet, whose rookie season was distinctly lacklustre, was confirmed for 2009 on Nov. 5 — a month before Button’s Honda team, Brawn GP’s predecessors, announced they were pulling out.

Remember that it was Briatore who described the lineup of Piquet and double world champion Fernando Alonso at the time as “one of the most exciting driver pairings with the perfect blend of youth and experience.”

So exciting that he wanted to replace the young Brazilian with a British bollard?