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From the Times on line...........
<!-- Print Author name associated with the article --><!-- Print Author name from By Line associated with the article -->Edward Gorman, Motor Racing Correspondent
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<!-- END: Module - M24 Article Headline with landscape image (d) --><!-- 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 -->In a dramatic development in the Formula One “Crashgate” scandal the FIA has offered the Renault team’s second-in-command immunity from punishment in exchange for full disclosure of how the alleged plan was executed.
The Times also understands that the FIA’s investigators have said that claims that the team asked Nelson Piquet Jr, their former driver, to crash his car deliberately at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix do have substance.
Pat Symonds, the director of engineering at Renault, who reports to Flavio Briatore, the team principal, has been told by the sport’s governing body that if he comes clean over how and why Piquet drove his car into the barriers in Singapore, he will escape sanctions, which could include a life ban from the sport.
The development means that of the three key players in the scandal — Piquet, who first alerted the FIA about the plan; Briatore, who has denied all knowledge of it; and Symonds — only Briatore will go to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris on Monday without being offered immunity.
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<!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements -->The decision to present Symonds with a lifeline follows initial interviews of him by FIA stewards investigating Piquet’s claims that he was asked by Symonds and Briatore to crash on lap 14 of the floodlit race in Singapore last September. This provoked a safety car intervention that helped Renault’s other driver, Fernando Alonso, to win the race.
Symonds initially stonewalled when questioned in detail by FIA investigators about claims that he not only asked Piquet to crash but even went through with him where he was to effect the accident.
After refusing to answer a series of key questions, Symonds remarked at one point: “I have no intention of lying to you. I have not lied to you, but I have reserved my position just a little.”
The Times understands that the stewards who carried out investigations during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of last month came to the conclusion that, having noted Symonds’s refusal to answer most of the questions that were put to him and having considered highly unusual telemetry data from Piquet’s car immediately before the crash, it was “reasonable, on balance” to accept that Piquet’s claims have substance.
Briatore and Renault continue to deny the allegations levelled against them. Briatore will go to the WMSC hearing trying to save a career that spans 20 years in Formula One and has included four drivers’ championships.
A full transcript of the Renault pitwall radio transmissions that took place between Symonds, Briatore, various engineers and Piquet and Alonso covering the dramatic minutes leading up to and after Piquet’s crash during the race has been seen by
The Times.
Immediately after the shunt that tore off two wheels and left the Brazilian’s car crunched against the circuit’s concrete barriers, Piquet is heard to say: “Sorry, guys. I had a little outing.”
An engineer asks: “Is he all right? Is he all right?” Then Symonds is heard to say: “Ask him if he’s all right.”
The engineer then questions Piquet on the radio: “Are you OK? Are you OK?” after which Piquet, who escaped the accident without serious injury, replies: “Yeah, I hit my head in the back. I think I’m OK.”
A little later an engineer, who is believed to have known nothing of any conspiracy, reflects on what he has just seen of the crash on the television monitor. “F***ing hell that was a big shunt,” he says.
At this point, several minutes after the accident, Briatore intervenes for the first time and his reaction is to criticise Piquet, not express any concern for him. “F***ing hell . . . my every f***ing disgrace, f***ing, he’s not a driver,” he says.
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