The Latest Scandal in Formula 1: Race Fixing
Update: following the WMSC meeting a few questions still remain, namely the mysterious identity of a new “Witness X” who was apparently present (but not involved) at the secret conspiracy meeting and testified to confirm Briatore’s involvement. His identity remains anonymous for the time being, although speculation is rampant.
The story goes like this: following the Hungarian Grand Prix last month Nelson Piquet, Jr. was fired from the Renault team, having failed to score a single point in 2009. Shortly thereafter he made it known to the FIA that he had conspired with his Renault bosses Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore to deliberately crash his car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, bringing out a safety car that would benefit his teammate Fernando Alonso (who eventually won the race). Apparently Piquet’s motivation for being involved with fixing the race was to ensure his future as a driver with the team. Once he was let go he had nothing left to lose and, being angry about the firing, was looking to take Briatore down with him.
As I watched the race I didn’t think anything about the Piquet crash was out of order (since he did tend to crash quite a bit) but apparently the plan was premeditated enough that Piquet was told to crash at the particular corner on the track furthest away from any cranes or openings in the wall, ensuring a safety car would be dispatched. All this information is coming to light via a massive leak of confidential information from the FIA, and can be found here at the bottom of the post. Briatore and Symonds have since left the Renault team (jumped or pushed?), which will face a hearing before the World Motor Sport Council next week to explain the allegations.
The FIA documents concerning the Renault investigation were no doubt leaked by someone with ulterior motives but I found them pretty fascinating to read nonetheless. Of particular interest was the radio transcript which detailed communication between the engineers and Pat Symonds (as well as the ridiculous comments Briatore was constantly making). For instance, the Renault strategy computer was not working during the race, and the engineers were trying to calculate gaps and fuel loads by hand while also attempting to reboot the program. It also clearly showed Piquet was overly concerned about what lap he was on, so that he would be able to crash at the correct time.
By the way, I found it pretty funny that the leak was so thorough as to include the invitation to the WMSC members. I can just imagine an older gentleman in a top hat and monocle filling out his card: “Another letter from Pierre. My oh my, those Formula 1 teams are constantly getting into trouble, aren’t they? When will they ever learn? Ooh, it looks like they will be serving a lunch as well! Splendid!”
Further: What the (UK) papers have to say about Flav & Renault