Reply With QuoteWowza, five years out for the pair of them !!! Do you think Briatore will take it sitting down or are we in for an expose of sort's ??
Good to see Renault's ban being suspended, it can only be good for the sport to keep them in.
Renault has been handed a two-year suspended ban for its involvement in fixing the result of last year's Singapore Grand Prix, with Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds receiving bans from motorsport.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78770
Much milder for Renault than many expected...
Flavio Briatore & Pat Symonds have bans from motorsport.
That means Briatore will not be allowed to manage any drivers in F1 - at the moment he manages Alonso, Webber, Kovalainen & Grosjean in F1. However this will only come into effect that the FIA wil not renew any Superlicence granted to a driver who is associated with Briatore.
In other words, he has been given until the end of the year to carry on managing his drivers :?
Wowza, five years out for the pair of them !!! Do you think Briatore will take it sitting down or are we in for an expose of sort's ??
Good to see Renault's ban being suspended, it can only be good for the sport to keep them in.
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
Renault ban suspended for 5 years
Symonds banned for 5 years
Briatore banned for an unlimited period
What surprises me that they haven't docked them all points from 2008 (and therefore losing about $50M) or even fined them. As always this will be a political decision though to keep them in F1.
As for Briatore, well he is a bit of a windbag of sorts and chooses to act like his English is poorer than it is. I really don't know whether he will go muck-raking, except maybe at the Piquet's.
2 year suspended ban – what a frigging joke, a political sentence seeing as Renault supply the Red Bull team engines and have threatened to withdraw. It should have been around $200m - twice the McClaren fine if they were to apply consistency. No wonder Mercedes want to expand their share ownership to 2 teams.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 266090.stm
Considering this was supposed to be the "worst case of cheating in motorsport" (even said by Max Mosely) then most people will tend to agree that it seems strangely lenient.
As I said before, it is obviously a political decision but given the widespread media coverage (and not just on the sports pages) I think this will send out a very bad message to the public at large. It may even make F1 seem more "fixed" (like wrestling) than ever before - potentially driving fans and TV viewers away.
Damned if they do and damed if they don't I suppose.
We can pick the bones out of this all we want, but we will never know for sure.
More politics will be coming up with the election of a new president to replace Mosely, so if Jean Todt gets elected we can no doubt see a continuation of this type of approach, which is mighty sad. They seem intent on continuing to run F1 like a feudal state, depsite that sort of thing coming to an end some 600 years ago in the rest of Europe.
I just hope that we all get back to just talking about the racing soon.
I can understand the more lenient sentence compared to McLaren, as they always denied what happened and even went as far to cover it up, Renault on the other hand didn't contest the charge and attempted to put things right by removing those responsible (I'll come on to that in a minute) although I do agree the penalty does seem unduly lenient given the severity of the scandal and more likely than not the commercial rights holder (Ecclestone) had more than a hand in keeping Renault in the sport.
However I do think it was a shame that Briatore and Symonds were both sacked (or resigned if you can believe that) before being made to attend and not just invited, to appear at the hearing. It's very shady business when sentences are handed down without people being present, whether it's their choice or not and even more cloak and daggers when the evidence is basically the word of a sacked and disgruntled employee, namely Piquet Jnr. There was a lot to this that hasn't and probably won't ever come out and that's a shame. I think it’s also set to rumble on in the courts with tribunals, lawsuits and ultimately three destroyed careers.
I was also very surprised to see that Renault weren't docked last years points and Alonso was allowed to keep the win. True, it was a year ago and it would have very little baring on the championship results and I’m sure Rosberg who stood to inherit the win, probably wouldn’t be too keen on breaking his duck via the court room, but obviously there was prize money at stake which I would have thought the FIA and FOM would be keen on clawing back. Very hand-of-god if you ask me.
Got off very lightly imho, should have lost last years points and the win at the very least.
"I looked with pity not untinged with scorn upon these trivial-minded passers-by"
Should have been made to pay back everyone who attended in Singapore and every punter who placed a bet on the race too.
I had never thought of that! :blackeye:Originally Posted by Dazzler
I would have thought that a lot of money was lost on that day :evil:
I had never thought of that! :blackeye:
I would have thought that a lot of money was lost on that day :evil:
A lot was won as well. Tough, they'll have to live with it :D
. But since the result stands that's what it is. Just like every week end in this country when a player dives and gets a penalty. Ot the ref misses one.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Is this the tip of the iceberg?
Has this happened before - what other 'team orders' have been used in F1?
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
This might just be the thin end of the wedge.
In the past, perhaps older drivers would keep their mouth shut but Piquet's revelation seems to mirror that of the Bloodgate saga in rugby union where more experienced management are exposed by a relatively new player.
Very surprised with this considering the Mclaren precedent.
Will also be interested to see where Alonso ends up now :twisted:
Exactly my thoughts. I consider what Renault did far more serious yet they've walked away with barely a slap on the wrists, yet McLaren lose all points for season, €100m penalty and RD loses his job.
Pathetic.
Renault ban suspended for 2 years according to http://www.f1.com
Excuse me for being stupid but what does a 2 year suspended ban mean exactly??
Nothing, because this wasn't about punishing a team, more about removing an individual
Quite right Pints - someone corrected James Allen on the same point earlier today. Apologies but I went off the Autosport article when it first broke.Excuse me for being stupid but what does a 2 year suspended ban mean exactly??
If Renault commit any similar offence of in the next 2 years they will be banned from motorsport for life. I loved the caveat about any future offence needing to be of a "comparable" nature for the ban to be applied though.
In other words, they won't be at any risk of a ban.
Briatore was one of the ring-leaders of the potential break-away series - remove him and threat gone. All in a neat little package, Briatore goes, renault (and Red Bull) in the F1 championship for foreseable future and we still have a vault full of McLaren cash to pay ourselves from.
A thought. If Renault signed up to the latest concorde agreement, only a matter of weeks ago, which keeps them in the sport until 2012, why weren't they penalised fiscally? With either TV money from last/this year or both, or a fine imposed based on the McLaren punishment, as the team have already comitted to the world championship for the next two and a half seasons anyway they couldn't really refuse.
Because it was decided the team was not guilty of the offense since it was mounted by 2 individuals.
And if they had decided to pull out (which is a real possibility with Toyota as well) the concorde would not have stopped them.
They've got their pound of flesh, they're happy. But the mob always wants more blood. The Maclaren fine was a disgrace, but MacLaren only exists throught motorsports. Renault can live quite comfortably without it; they also supply engines to TR, and possibly to Williams...
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I always thought cheating was a big no no in any kind of sport but footballers cheat all the time so why not F1 teams?
Respect the past, live the present, protect the future
Personally, I think the Briatore ban is appropriate if he did instruct a driver to crash. In effect he ordered an employee to risk his life so that the team could benefit. I know F1 cars are strong and safe these days but the Massa incident shows that even a seemingly benign fault can endanger life.
Well since this has been bumped back up I may as well link you to this because it will surface soon anyway...
There was a 4th person (apart from Briatore, Symonds & Piquet) who knew of the planned crash. His identity is being kept secret and is simply referred to as Witness X by the FIA.
The best article I've seen on this is at http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/09/2...lts-witness-x/
Of course speculation is that Alonso is Witness X (or possibly one of the drivers' Race Engineers).
All FIA papers & recordings are now published at http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre...0909_docs.aspx
Any hope of this being put to bed quickly have now gone :roll:
Cheats, Penalty too soft
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