F1 2009

[David Morton]

Flavio Briatore has been banned from all F1 activities for ever and Renault have been given a two year suspended ban. More to come?? I imagine so.

Five year ban for Pat Symonds.

 

[domtoni]

The official press release:

World Motor Sport Council

 

[Keith]

"Furthermore, it (the FIA) does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore."

How on earth do his drivers (including Mark Webber and Grosjean?) wriggle their way out of that quagmire?

Could they claim "breach of contract?"

Ah, presumably the Superlicence is valid until the end of 09 season by which time Briatore will be dismantled driver management wise..

 

[Paul Brameld]

Flavio Briatore has been banned from all F1 activities for ever and Renault have been given a two year suspended ban. More to come?? I imagine so.

And your friend Pat banned for 5 years, "it was to his “eternal regret and shame” that he participated in the conspiracy". You could employ him at Racemet and return the favour?

 

[David Morton]

Paul - I don't think Pat will need to work ever again.
I imagine he will retire to Spain now this would seem to be all over.

 

[Pat Buckley]

I'm rather surprised at the light sentence.

 

[Keith]

An inglorious end to a glorious career albeit in the back room.

He probably has a large garden in Spain - lucky bugger.

I see the "Teflon Don" has escaped again...

 

[Malcolm]

I'm rather surprised at the light sentence.

I agree, a light sentence.

 

[Frank Catt]

This should be in the " Jokes anyone ? " section

 

[Fred/Belgium]

Light sentence to me towards Renault eventough I seriously believe Renault was not directly aware of this conspiracy,but they are the brand ....

Assume win/win for all parties to get the roadshow going on.

Questionning F1 future on sponsor interest after all these low belt pulicity ...

The jury is out


Fred

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

So Renault get off with a two year suspended sentence and no fine.
Flav concentrates on being a father and counting his $$$$ and David's mate retires to Spain.
Am I missing something here? Does the F.I.A. think that deliberately crashing a car and putting the driver, his peers, the track marshals and the public in danger is a lesser evil than a bit of industrial espionage?
Ron and Mclaren must be really pissed off!
What a farce.

 

[David Morton]

Like I said before, you just could not write this and hope that anybody would believe it. It's more like a circus every day.

 

[Malcolm]

And remember too that Renault did have McLaren documents which they should not have had when the Ferrari/McLaren thing was going on but there was not enough evidence to say it affected the championship back then to take action! This crash affected the championship significantly but such a lenient sentence. It is I think a commercial decision as FIA know that if they slapped a big fine on the Renault team, the Renault board would just walk away from F1 and that would be bad for F1. F1 is not Renault's core business whereas it is McLaren's core business so McLaren were less likely to walk away from F1. Such a shame that Fota didn't set up that new series to rival F1.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Here we go again, I thought F1 was supposed to be the sharp edge of development, not very fast Formula Fords.
Silly buggers. autosport.com - F1 News: FIA agrees to engine re-equalisation

 

[David Morton]

2010 Formula One World Championship 19 Race Calendar:

14 March Bahrain
28 March Australia
4 April Malaysia
18 April China
9 May Spain
23 May Monaco
30 May Turkey
13 June Canada *
27 June Europe (Valencia)
11 July Great Britain
25 July Germany
1 August Hungary
29 August Belgium
12 September Italy
26 September Singapore
3 October Japan
17 October Korea
31 October Abu Dhabi
14 November Brazil

*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.

The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.

You really have to wonder who will be bothered watching any of these events.

 

[David Morton]

Q1: So who is "Witness X" ?
Q2: Who will be sitting on the Pat Perch between Bell and Permane?
Q3: Will Alonso ever benefit from a Safety car ever again without a finger of
suspicion?
Q4: How long before Renault officially quit F1?


ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD.

 

[David Morton]

FROM THE TIMES:




Witness X sealed Flavio Briatore’s fate in 'Crashgate'



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<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>gSiteLife.Recommend("ExternalResource", "6845194","http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6845194.ece");</SCRIPT>Recommend? (5)




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<!-- END: Module - Module - M24 Article Headline with portrait image (b) --><!-- BEGIN: Module - Main Article --><!-- Check the Article Type and display accordingly--><!-- Print Author image associated with the Author--><!-- Print the body of the article--><STYLE type=text/css>div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;} </STYLE><!-- Pagination -->A member of the Renault team known only as Witness X finished the Formula One career of Flavio Briatore and could yet lead the Italian to be banished from football.
Evidence from the “Crashgate” inquiry released late last night detailing the most explosive case of cheating in sporting history damns Briatore, the former managing director of the Formula One team and owner of Queens Park Rangers Football Club.
Briatore was banned for life from motor-racing activities, including managing drivers, after the hearing in Paris on Monday held by the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, for his role in the conspiracy that forced Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his Renault in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix so that Fernando Alonso, his team-mate, could win.
But Briatore is also under pressure to walk away from QPR as fans, lawyers and politicians told The Times that they believe he cannot continue, morally or legally, as a key figure in any sport.
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• Briatore facing end of road at QPR

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• Ecclestone: Ban on Briatore is too harsh

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• Fury as Renault get easy ride over 'Crashgate'

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• Q&A: Crashgate, Briatore and QPR

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<!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements -->Briatore was protesting his innocence yesterday and said that he would take legal action to clear his name. But the extent of his connivance was laid bare by a whistleblower within the Renault team — referred to in the FIA evidence as Witness X and whose identity is known only to a handful of insiders, including Max Mosley, the FIA president.
Witness X came forward on the eve of the FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing to reveal the elaborate details of the plot as Renault executives struggled to piece together events in their internal inquiry.
According to Witness X, Briatore knew all about the plan and the architect was Pat Symonds, Renault’s once highly respected director of engineering.
The FIA statement said: “Witness X was told of the idea suggested by Nelson Piquet Jr by Mr Symonds, whilst in the presence of Mr Briatore. Witness X objected to the idea. He did not know the plan was to be carried into effect until the crash happened.
“As a result of the evidence, including Mr Piquet’s admission, Mr Symonds’s responses and Witness X’s evidence, Renault F1 concluded that they and Mr Briatore must have known about the conspiracy.”
The trio kept the plan secret from the rest of the team, which explains why the FIA was keen to go easy on Renault, handing out a two-year suspended ban to the manufacturer team, while cracking down on Briatore and Symonds, who was banned from motor racing for five years. Piquet was given immunity for revealing the plot.
The FIA dismissed Briatore’s suggestion that he had no knowledge of the affair and refused to accept his version of events, ruling he was “personally and directly involved in the planning of the conspiracy”. Even worse, Briatore was Piquet’s manager at the time.
Symonds is revealed as a victim of Briatore’s demanding regime. He was a longstanding employee of Renault — known as Benetton and Toleman before the French company took control. While Briatore refused to attend the FIA hearing on Monday, Symonds rejected the chance of immunity but wrote a letter expressing his “eternal regret and shame”.
“I was the one who, when the idea was first suggested to me by Nelson Piquet Jr, should have dismissed it immediately,” he said. “I can only say I did it out of a misguided devotion to my team and not for any personal gain whatsoever. I consider the role I have played in bringing the team to where it is today to be my life’s work.
“In a single action, I have destroyed the high reputation I have built up during a 33-year career in motor sport.”

 

[David Morton]

Duplicate of previous post.

 

[Keith]

Quote:

" Ecclestone said. “I feel very sorry for him (Briatore). I thought the punishment was probably a bit harsh but I don’t know how it can be changed. I don’t think he deserved it. I think he should have had his hand slapped.”

And there, in a nutshell is what's wrong with F1 today.... :sad:

 

[Keith]

Q1: So who is "Witness X" ?
Q2: Who will be sitting on the Pat Perch between Bell and Permane?
Q3: Will Alonso ever benefit from a Safety car ever again without a finger of
suspicion?
Q4: How long before Renault officially quit F1?


ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD.

Ain't got no stamps mate.

Answer to Q1 & Q2. Witness X will be a senior figure in the team with access to the 'highest council' who finds himself in a dead man's shoes job situation & thus seeking advancement through plunging the dagger of treachery through the black hearts of the conspirators.

However, as is normal in these cases, this pipe blower will be handed a poisoned chalice as reward for his 'honesty' and he will be made to drink copiously from it after a decent interval has elapsed, probably in the close season.

Or, Alain Prost for Q2..