Renault today appeared before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) to face charges relating to the “crash-gate” affair. After the hearing in Paris, which lasted just 90 minutes, the WMSC handed down a rapid verdict.

Renault received a permanent disqualification from the sport, but this is suspended until the end of 2011. Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA-sanctioned events for an unlimited period and Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

Managing director Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds were both implicated ahead of today’s hearing and had already left the team as the French car giant said they would not contest the charges. Also, the FIA agreed not to pursue action against Piquet in return for his role in uncovering the details of the scandal.

“Furthermore, (the FIA) does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore. In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.”

Briatore’s firm, FFBB, currently manages Heikki Kovalainen and Mark Webber as well as Renault Development Drivers such as Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi.

While Briatore has been banned from the sport indefinitely with Symonds handed a five year ban, Fernando Alonso “was not in any way involved in Renault F1’s breach of the regulations,” and Nelson Piquet Jr. was immune from sanctions after giving evidence to the FIA.

The team issued a statement saying it apologizes unreservedly for its “unacceptable behavior” and hopes to move on. “Renault F1’s breaches not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself,” read a statement from the FIA. “The World Motor Sport Council considers that offences of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship.

“However, having regard to the points in mitigation mentioned above and in particular the steps taken by Renault F1 to identify and address the failings within its team and condemn the actions of the individuals involved, the WMSC has decided to suspend Renault F1’s disqualification until the end of the 2011 season. The World Motor Sport Council will only activate this disqualification if Renault F1 is found guilty of a comparable breach during that time.”

photo credit ©WRI2

Yesterday, Renault’s director of engineering, Pat Symonds, was granted immunity in the FIA’s investigation into the incident if he agrees to provide details of the alleged plan.

Now the Times newspaper has published details of the interactions between Symonds, two Renault engineers and crucially, Flavio Briatore, the team principal, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the driver and the team. In the radio communication, Briatore swears repeatedly and says that Piquet is “not a driver” following the now notorious crash, before later asking: “Is Nelson OK?”

“I can tell you now we are not three-stopping,” Symonds is heard to say on the transcript made by the FIA, the sport’s world governing body.

Later Symonds says to an engineer: “Don’t worry about fuel because I’m going to get him (Alonso) out of this traffic earlier than that.”

Piquet says: “What lap are we in, what lap are we in?”

A Renault engineer then reports: “He just asked: ‘What lap are we in?’”

Symonds replies: “Yeah, tell him that he’s about to complete lap eight.”

Symonds insists Piquet is then told something he should know from his pit board, which is shown to him at the end of every lap. “No, just tell him, he is about, he’s just completing, he’s about to complete lap eight.”

Symonds then says: “Right, I’m going to…I think we’re going to stop him just before we catch him (a reference to the Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, who was ahead of Alonso) and get him out of it, the reason being we’ve still got this worry on the fuel pump. It’s only a couple of laps short. We’re going to be stopping him early and we’re going to go to lap 40.”

An unnamed engineer asks a few minutes later: “Pat, do you still not think that this is a bit too early? We only did six tenths that lap.”

Symonds replies: “No, no it’s going to be all right.”

“OK, OK, understood,” the engineer says.

After Alonso’s pit stop, Symonds says to the engineer: “OK right, you’ve got to push him really bloody hard now. If he (Piquet) doesn’t get past Barrichello, he’s going nowhere, he’s got to get past Barrichello this lap.”

Briatore then gets involved, saying: “Tell him, push.”

Piquet’s race engineer tells his driver: “Nelson, no excuses now, you’ve got to get past Barrichello. You’ve got four clicks straight-line advantage. Come on, you’ve got to push now, you must get past him.”

A short time later, the Times reports, Piquet crashes at turn 17, the place at which the driver claims he was told to crash before the race.

Multiple voices: “Nelson’s off. Fucking hell. Nelson’s had a crash. I would say that would be a red flag. It’s huge (all speaking at the same time).

Piquet: “Sorry guys. I had a little outing.”

Engineer: “Is he all right, Is he all right?”

Symonds: “Ask him if he’s all right.”

Engineer: “Are you OK? Are you OK?”

Engineer: “Fernando’s just gone past it.”

Engineer: “OK, yellow flag.”

Piquet: “Yeah, I hit my head in the back. I think I’m OK.”

Engineer: “OK, understood.”

Symonds: “Right (inaudible), stop him.”

Engineer: “Safety car, safety car, safety car, safety car. Fernando, safety car, mixture three.”

Symonds: “Tell him to be careful, turn 17 I think it is.”

Engineer: “Fucking hell that was a big shunt.”

Briatore: “Fucking hell … my every fucking disgrace, fucking, he’s not a driver.”

Symonds: “What position is Fernando in?”

Engineer: “Well, we were 20, and we’re first guy to pick the safety car up.”

Symonds: “Yeah, we’re not…”

Engineer: “He will get away past it but he’s got to wait.”

“What position we are now in all this?” asks Briatore.

Symonds replies: “To be honest, I don’t know Flavio. It’s got to have been good for Fernando. But I honestly don’t know where he is.”

Several minutes later, they return to the subject of Piquet and the crash. Engineer: “Where is Nelson? Have you seen him?”

Briatore: “Is he OK, Nelson? Is he OK?”

Alonso: “The pit lane is closed until we arrive?”

Engineer: “He climbed out, mate, and ran across the track.”

Engineer: “Yeah, the pit lane is still closed.”

photo credit ©DPPI

Renault were summoned by governing body, the FIA, after Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed he had been directly asked to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso’s race. Renault have been called to answer charges that they “conspired with Nelson Piquet Jr to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso”.

Ahead of Monday’s Extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the team announced today that both Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have left the team.  ”The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,” a statement reads.  ”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.”

The hearing will attempt to attribute responsibility for the Singapore “crash-gate” despite the news that Briatore and Symonds have left Renault. Should the team be found guilty of the allegations, the range of sanctions available to the FIA range from a fine, to permanent exclusion from the world championship.

At the time, Piquet attributed the crash to a simple error, but after being dropped by the team after July’s Hungary GP the race-fixing allegations emerged. He has since testified to the FIA that he was instructed by Briatore and Symonds when and where to crash.

Last Friday, September 11, the team announced that they and Briatore had commenced legal proceedings against Piquet and his father over ‘false allegations’ and ‘attempted blackmail’. The team has not clarified its current stance with regard to this matter.

As it is, Renault’s statement draws the curtain on two of F1’s best-known protagonists.

Briatore became the Benetton team principal in 1991 and when Renault bought Benetton in 2000 to run under its own moniker, he was chosen to lead the team. Briatore was also heavily involved in the teams’ association FOTA, as it sought to reach an agreement on the future of the sport with the FIA this season.

Pat Symonds joined the Toleman team, which morphed into Benetton and Renault, in the 1980s and worked his way though the ranks becoming executive director of engineering in 2001. Symonds was also Michael Schumacher’s race engineer for part of the 1990s.

It remains to be seen whether this latest controversy, and the departure of Briatore and Symonds, will affect Renault’s decision to stay in Formula 1. Briatore had denied speculation that the French team’s future was under threat and the team have signed a new Concorde Agreement to stay in F1 until 2012. But this latest controversy, coupled with a decline in cars sales, could yet have repercussions for the staff of around 700, who are employed at the team’s headquarters in Enstone, in Oxfordshire, and Viry-Chatillon in Paris.

There are also other ramifications to consider, such as Briatore’s co-ownership with Bernie Ecclestone of the London football club Queens Park Rangers, and – depending on the carmaker’s reaction or the WMSC sanction – Renault’s significant role in GP2 and other motor racing categories.

photo credit ©XPB