Briatore Quits Renault Over Race-fixing Charges

In a season of seemingly never-ending scandal, F1 has been dealt another body blow after Renault chief executive Flavio Briatore stepped down from his position with immediate effect after his team decided not to contest charges of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Renault were summoned by governing body, the FIA, after Nelson Piquet Jr claimed he had been asked to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso’s race.

The decision by the team management not to contest the charges would seem to be an admission of guilt and has led to the demise of both Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds who has also left the team.

An FIA spokesperson confirmed a World Motor Sport Council hearing into the issue in Paris next week would still go ahead.

Renault have been called to answer charges that they ‘conspired with Nelson Piquet Jr to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso’.

The hearing will attempt to attribute responsibility and the FIA could still impose sanctions if Renault are found guilty, including excluding the team from the championship, although that must be considered unlikely given the two people Piquet said were responsible have now left the team.

When asked for his thoughts on Briatore’s demise, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said: ‘Well, I feel sorry for him actually. Obviously, I am surprised at what has happened, and I am taken by surprise today that they’ve decided to walk away.’

Piquet crashed in Singapore two laps after Alonso had come in for a routine pit stop.

That meant that when race officials sent out the safety car to clear up the debris from Piquet’s car, Alonso was alone among the front-runners in not having to stop for fuel and tyres.

Renault’s double world champion went on to take the chequered flag at F1’s inaugural night race and claim the team’s first victory in two years.

After being dropped by the team, Piquet has since testified to the FIA that he was instructed by Briatore and Symonds when and where to crash.

Renault’s response was to accuse the 24-year-old and his father Nelson Piquet of false allegations and blackmail, going as far as saying they would begin legal action against them.

However the team has now said in a statement they would ‘not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix’.

Briatore became Benetton team principal in 1988 and when Renault bought Benetton in 2000 to run under its own moniker, the 59-year-old Italian was chosen to lead the team.

The departed Renault boss was also heavily involved in the teams’ association FOTA, as it sought to reach an agreement on the future of the sport with the FIA this season.