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Renault take legal action v Nelson Piquet

grober

grober

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Renault announced today that they have started criminal proceedings against former driver Nelson Piquet and his father, the three-time world champion of the same name, relating to allegations that Piquet deliberately crashed in last year's Singapore Grand Prix. Renault are claiming that Piquets Junior and Senior have made false allegations relating to the matter and that they attempted to blackmail the team into allowing Piquet to retain his drive for the remainder of 2009. And you thought McLaren had problems.:crazy:
The Official Formula 1 Website
 
Renault will not dispute Singapore GP allegations

Press release here

Briatore and Symonds have left the team and no further comment will be made before the FIA hearing on Monday.
 
Ha........what a liar he now looks!

Briatore 11 Sept said:
"I'm very confident the truth will come out... 80 or 90 per cent [confident]," he said at the Italian Grand Prix on Friday. "That is why we put forward the case.

"I feel really, really upset and sad. What you see today - everything was against Renault, and there was a big damage already for us. This takes the sport into disrepute.

"I feel Nelsinho is a very spolit guy, very fragile. We tried everything. All I wanted from him was only performance.

"For me, it's completely unbelievable. Fernando won the race only because [Ferrari driver Felipe] Massa and [BMW's Robert] Kubica had problems. There were about seven problems that occurred. What is possible after lap 14 [when the crash occurred]?"
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Fierce!. So will Renaults legal action for 'blackmail' remain? or, as I suspect, this story continue... My guess is that before Nelsinho came over all talkative with the FIA, he tried to use this to leverage a contract extension, which ultimately failed. If that can be proved there'll be another ex-renault employee on the dole queue!
 
Renault parted company with flamboyant team boss Flavio Briatore on Wednesday and said they would not contest charges that they had fixed last year's Singapore Grand Prix by ordering a driver to crash.
"The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix," the team said in a statement.
"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 Sept. 21), the team will not make any further comment."
Briatore and Symonds were due to appear before the governing International Automobile Federation to answer charges they ordered Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet to crash in Singapore a year ago to help Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso win.
The FIA can impose various penalties for fraudulent conduct including kicking a team 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.
Italian Briatore led the team to two Formula One constructors' and drivers' championships with Alonso in 2005 and 2006 after also winning titles with Benetton and Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995.
A business partner of Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, with the two co-owning English second division soccer club Queen's Park Rangers, Briatore was also a leading figure in the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).
 
I know it's slightly pedantic but it does show the "spin" put on things in the F1 world...but a company (ING Renault F1) or an individual (Briatore) cannot commence criminal proceedings in France. All that can be done is that evidence is presented to a magistrate for them to decide whether to launch a criminal investigation.

So you put public pressure of "criminal proceedings" on parties in an effort to keep people quiet and return to the nogotiation table? Maybe.

But what has really blown this apart is the leaking of Symonds' interview with the stewards - he left himself and the team with nowhere to go but this.

It will be interesting to see what the sanction imposed will be - deliberately endangering the lives of their driver and others (even if the driver was complicit) in order to manipulate the result of a race surely puts "Spygate" and "Liegate" in the shade.

Mr E Snr would only smile when I asked him about this and asked if I seriously thought this was the first time this had happened...

PS - thanks for pulling all the threads together into one place :)
 
If Symonds was offered immunity from punishment by the FIA for full disclosure of the incident, then it looks as if the FIA are out to get Briatore alone. Which is hardly surprising as Briatore was trying to replace Mosley earlier in the year.

What goes around, comes around.
 
Mr E said:
It will be interesting to see what the sanction imposed will be - deliberately endangering the lives of their driver and others (even if the driver was complicit) in order to manipulate the result of a race surely puts "Spygate" and "Liegate" in the shade.
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Especially given the precedent of what happened to McLaren. What are the chances are Renault will walk away from F1 anyway?

And it remains to be seen how much Alonso will be dragged into this.
 
Mr E said:
I know it's slightly pedantic but it does show the "spin" put on things in the F1 world...but a company (ING Renault F1) or an individual (Briatore) cannot commence criminal proceedings in France.
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or anywere else? I wondered about that and thought he must have meant civil proceedings
 
Yep if McLaren were fined $50mio for spying, then surely race-fixing and endagering the lives of drivers, marshalls and spectators should command an equally stiff penalty. Looks like we shan't be seeing Renault compete or provide engines next season - shame for Red Bull. Given the parlous state of the car industry at present cant see it worth Renault staying in.

Shame really, just further damages what was once a great sport and give furthre grist to the mill of those who decalre it all a big-money farce.
 
crammy69 said:
Looks like we shan't be seeing Renault compete or provide engines next season - shame for Red Bull.
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I suspect Red Bull are delighted as it might save them suffering the effect of a break clause??
 
With a possible 14 teams on the 2010 grid and with each engine supplier only allowed to supply 3 teams, are there enough engines to go around if Renault drop out?

Mercedes, Ferrari, Toyota, BMW(?), Renault(?)

I believe Cosworth will supply engines to the new Lotus team.
 
wemorgan said:
With a possible 14 teams on the 2010 grid and with each engine supplier only allowed to supply 3 teams, are there enough engines to go around if Renault drop out?
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There were rumours that Red Bull and Williams were after alternative engines anyway. So that means less dependency on Renault and Toyota.

I can't see why Mercedes couldn't dish out some more engines to other teams - as long as they get paid for them and there are no contractual restrictions.

Edit: Missed the three teams bit. So there woulfd be contractual restrictions :(
 
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EDZ649 said:
I think Bugatti should make engines for F1:eek:
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You mean Audi.
 
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