Flavio Briatore
And here it comes. ING Renault F1 Team issued statement today informing that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team. The team also announced that it will not dispute the allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. So, it took Piquets only about 6 weeks to get their revenge …
It will be interesting to see what effect will this have on the outcome of September 21 WMSC meeting….
The full text of the statement:
The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
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 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment.
It sounds like the usual Renault F1 approach – do not dispute the charges and hope for leniency of the governing body …
Photo: Renault/LAT
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Could this be the final straw that pushes Renault into leaving F1 at the end of this year? Right now I’d say I’m expecting to see the BMW team back in 2010, in the grid-slots left vacant by Renault.
this may be part of the plan to keep Renault in …
Awesome. The business man who knows crap is finally out. Anyway, one thing thats missing is, even if these guys made the call to do the crash, shouldn’t nelsinho be punished for life for crashing (which is certainly a big deal)?
he probably should, but likely he will not with the immunity FIA granted him
I still maybe think a ban for renault will be placed, mayb e next year and BMW Sauber will be allowed back in.
I’m really surprised by that. I was definitely not expecting it.
But what does that mean now, a confession of guilt or just damage limitation?
I think both, but maybe the 21th will make it a little bit clearer. Just one thing is for sure… it’s bad for formula one.
I would guess that FIA/F1 will be lenient on Renault following their past decision on McLaren after Ron Dennis left the team.
I do wonder what the results would be if Alonzo’s win was nulled. Hamilton would gain two points, and Massa would still get none (thanks to the wonderful refueling system of Ferrari).