Renault F1 given suspended ban as boss barred after cheating

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Following the Renault Formula One team's acceptance of a race-fixing charge, the team has been given a lifetime ban, suspended for two years. Team boss Flavio Briatore will never again be allowed to take any part in F1.

Although not a licence holder himself, the FIA, F1's governing body, has made it clear at yesterday's meeting of the World Motorsport Council that it will refuse to sanction any events Briatore is involved in or licence any F1 racers he works with. He did not attend the hearing in Paris.

Renault's ban will only be enforced if the team is found guilty of a similar offence in the next two years. Top engineer Pat Symonds was banned for five years. The decision not to kick Renault out of Formula One was largely due to mitigating factors, including the fact that Renault submitted additional evidence against itself after deciding not to contest the claims.

	"It's a crying shame for the sport."
—Damon Hill

Retired British racing drive Damon Hill commented on the developments: "I'm not surprised they've let Renault off. It's a crying shame for the sport. Formula One has to ask itself, is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport?"

Part of the evidence came from a team member identified only as Witness X. Witness X's identity is known only to a few within Formula One and the FIA, and testimony given by him or her included confirming that Briatore was fully aware of the race-fixing plan. Nelson Piquet Jr, the driver who deliberately crashed his car last year, was granted immunity as another whistleblower.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

"Renault gets easy ride" — Straits Times, September 22, 2009
"'Witness X' evidence condemned Briatore" — The Press Association, September 22, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License