At last year’s Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, Renault team driver Nelson Piquet Jr. slammed into the wall, totalling his car and temporarily stopping the race. The incident allowed his teammate, Fernando Alonso, to win everything. Piquet eventually admitted the crash was deliberate — he was told to do so by team boss Flavio Briatore. (Personally, I imagine that conversation unfolding somewhat like an old Bob Newhart “guy on the phone” routine: “Yeah sure, anything, Flavio: You name it. Um, what’s that? You want me to what? No, it’s just, those walls are hard, Flavio…”) According to leaked testimony, Piquet was even shown on a map of the track where to go all crash-test dummy.
The World Motor Sport Council of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) delivered its judgment this morning on “Crashgate”, and it sounds like Renault got off fairly easy:
