Renault blame Briatore & Symonds

Departed team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds are responsible for the Formula 1 race-fixing controversy, according to Renault chief Patrick Pelata.

Renault point the finger at Briatore

The FIA is considering changing its rules to avoid a repeat of any avoidance of sanction in the race-fixing affairRenault today pinned the blame on Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds for the race-fixing scandal that has tarnished their name as senior executives refused to be drawn on the team's future in Formula One.As the French carmaker embarked on a damage limitation exercise to cushion the impact on its reputation, it also emerged that the FIA is considering changing its rules to avoid a repeat of the likely situation next week when the disgraced pair will avoid personal sanction for their role in the affair.Renault's chief operating officer Patrick Pelata admitted to French radio station RTL that "there was a fault and a fault requires a sanction". "Flavio Briatore considered he was morally responsible and resigned. We will know more about the details after what will happen on Monday with the FIA," he said. "For the moment we have assumptions but it is clear that basically there was a fault. We don't like this, nor do we want a fault by two people to reflect upon the whole company and the entire Formula One team."But he refused to be drawn on whether the company would maintain a presence in Formula One beyond the end of the season, even if it escaped a ban on Monday. Speculation had surrounded its future intentions, even before the current controversy."This is not the debate today. We will have it calmly," he said. "Formula One is the world's most-watched show and you have to respect that. Formula One has been in the vanguard of progress for car technology. It is probably not the case at the moment, but it could be again and it is always what Renault have tried to do."Since Briatore and Symonds dramatically quit on Wednesday, effectively admitting they persuaded Nelson Piquet junior to crash deliberately during last year's Singapore grand prix to hand an advantage to his team-mate Fernando Alonso, it is only the team that will face a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on Monday as the FIA effectively has no power over the pair under the International Sporting Code. Piquet had earlier been offered immunity in return for detailing the plot.The 26-strong council, headed by the FIA president Max Mosely, will decide on a suitable punishment for Renault after it dramatically declined to offer a defence to the allegations. The team could yet be suspended from the sport or, more likely, handed a huge fine.The loophole also means that Briatore's stake in Queens Park Rangers is unlikely to come under Football League scrutiny under its fit and proper persons test. The League rules only permit it to act if an individual is banned by a recognised sporting body. "We will continue to monitor the situation at the FIA but will not speculate on future developments," said a spokesman.Despite being well-practised in dealing with the fall-out from successive scandals, the shockwaves from Renault's effective admission of guilt continued to reverberate around the sport. Experts said that most of Renault's sponsors would be looking closely at Monday's ruling. Its title sponsor ING is withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the season in any case."This is serious, it's cheating. If you were a sponsor of Renault, would you want to continue with that sponsorship? There will be a reputational damage clause and they would be perfectly within their rights to terminate," said Scott Garrett, a director at sponsorship agency Synergy and former head of marketing at Williams.Sir Jackie Stewart said: "There is something fundamentally rotten and wrong at the heart of Formula One." But former driver Eddie Irvine claimed it had been blown out of proportion. "In the past every team has done whatever it could to win – cheat, bend the rules, break the rules, sabotage opponents. This is just the FIA going on a crusade," he told the BBC.Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, said that the loss of Briatore's colourful persona would be noticed. "Flavio has been one of the main characters in F1 for the past 20 years and his presence will be missed, I'm sure."Five in the frameAlain ProstRan his own Formula One team from 1997 to 2001 but failed to match the success he achieved behind the wheelOlivier QuesnelTook over from Guy Frécquelin as head of Citroën's rally team and helped mastermind the continued domination of Sébastien LoebFrédéric VasseurRuns the day-to-day operations of the ART GP2 team which is part owned by Nicolas Todt, the son of FIA presidential candidate Jean TodtDavid RichardsChairman of Prodrive and Aston Martin. Masterminded the successful Subaru rally team and later had stints as head of Benetton and BARCraig PollockJacques Villeneuve's ex-manager and the founder of British American RacingRenaultFlavio BriatoreMotor sportFormula OneOwen GibsonAlan Henryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Briatore resigned, says Renault official

A high-ranking Renault official has recognised that the negativity of the Singapore 2008 'crashgate' allegations, the departure of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, and the consequent fallout are hitting the French carmaker's reputation hard...  

Renault admit race-fixing as Flavio Briatore resigns

Renault says managing director Flavio Briatore and engineering chief executive Pat Symonds are leaving the Formula One team, and that it will not dispute charges that Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash in a race.

Renault poised to pull out of F1

• Renault will not dispute race-fixing allegations at hearing• Bernie Ecclestone 'sorry and surprised' by friend's exit Renault could be poised to withdraw from Formula One at the end of this season after effectively admitting its guilt in a race-fixing scam and confirming the departure of the two senior figures at the centre of the allegations, including the managing director, Flavio Briatore.The team said it would not contest accusations that its management encouraged Nelson Piquet Jr to crash deliberately in last year's Singapore grand prix. Having last Friday launched legal action against its former driver, the U-turn came as a surprise even in a Formula One season that is losing its power to shock. Piquet Jr was alleged to have been ordered to crash on a specific lap in order to help his team leader, Fernando Alonso, win, thanks to the appearance of the safety car.Senior executives at Renault Group had said they would not rush to any hasty conclusions about the team's future, but its presence in next year's championship has already been called into question by the departure of its main sponsor, ING, and the likely departure of its main driver, Alonso, for Ferrari.Briatore, the Renault team's managing director and a colourful figure in the sport for more than two decades, and Pat Symonds, the executive director of engineering, left their posts with immediate effect ahead of next Monday's meeting of the FIA's world motor sport council."The Renault team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore grand prix," it said in a statement.  "It also wishes to state that its managing director Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering Pat Symonds have left the team."Monday's extraordinary meeting will proceed in Paris as planned to decide what penalty should be imposed on the French car maker for its part in the latest of a seemingly endless string of scandals which have embroiled the sport for the past decade or more.Leaked documents detailing interviews with Symonds and Briatore and transcripts of the team's radio communications at the Singapore race appeared to indicate that, at the very least, there is a strong case for Renault to answer.The FIA offered Piquet Jr immunity in return for outlining his allegations. Symonds is also believed to have been offered immunity, but it now appears unlikely he will take up the offer.The Formula One rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, said he could not comment on the likely decision of the council, on which he sits alongside the FIA president, Max Mosley, and 24 others, but said he "felt sorry" for his close friend Briatore."Obviously, I'm surprised at what has happened, and I'm taken by surprise that they've decided to walk away," he said.Whether Briatore jumped or was pushed is neither here nor there in the ultimate analysis; Renault concluded that both had to go if the team was to have a hope of drawing the sting from any penalty the FIA might have in mind – which could include their exclusion from the title race a few days before the first anniversary of the controversial event.This has been a fast-moving saga, fuelled by the embittered Piquet who was dropped from the team last month, through to the symbolic sacrifice of Renault's leading player, Briatore.The sequence of events mirrors the way in which the McLaren chairman, Ron Dennis, and his lieutenant, Dave Ryan, were sidelined following the so-called "Liargate" controversy involving Lewis Hamilton at this year's race in Melbourne. Both Ryan and Symonds were caught in the crossfire and were not the main targets of the FIA's ire.Formula One insiders are split on Renault's likely intentions. Some argue that the decision to part company with Briatore and Symonds suggests the team was preparing a case that would appeal for clemency by the FIA and enable it to honour an earlier commitment to remain competing in the championship until at least 2012.Others are convinced that the scandal will merely have hardened Renault's intention to pull out, but that Briatore and Symonds had to go in order to limit the damage to the team's reputation.Formula OneRenaultFlavio BriatoreMotor sportOwen GibsonAlan Henryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

F1 team Renault won't dispute crash charge

Renault managing director Flavio Briatore and engineering executive director Pat Symonds have left the Formula One team, which said Wednesday it will not contest a charge that Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash in a race.