Formula One stopped short of fining or excluding Renault for cheating because the auto racing series can’t afford to lose another team in the middle of a recession, former executives said.
The Renault F1 Team admitted conspiring for Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
The punishment -- a permanent ban -- was suspended and Renault will only be kicked out if found guilty of a comparable breach through 2011, the sport’s ruling body said yesterday. Former team manager Flavio Briatore was excluded from the series for life and Pat Symonds, the team’s ex-chief of engineering, got a five-year ban.
“They’ve got away with it because Formula One can’t afford to lose Renault,” Nazir Hossein, a former vice-president of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, said in an interview.
Honda Motor Co. quit in December and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG will follow at the end of the 2009 season amid falling auto sales. CVC Capital Partners Ltd., which bought the series in 2006, saw the loss from it widen 22 percent to $505 million last year as it paid more to other teams including Renault to persuade them to stay through 2012.
Renault’s deliberate crash in Singapore has led to a less stringent penalty than was imposed in a 2007 controversy. On that occasion, McLaren was fined $100 million for spying on rival team Ferrari and after misleading the FIA while it was investigating the incident.
Unparalleled Severity
“The Renault offence was far, far worse,” Paul Stoddart, the former manager of the Minardi team, said in an interview. It was the most extreme case of cheating in Formula One’s 59-year history, he added.
The incident was of “unparalleled severity,” the FIA said after a hearing at its offices in Paris yesterday. The team “endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself.”
Eddie Jordan, former owner of the Jordan team, said a ban for Renault would have also hit teams that it supplies engines to. They include Red Bull GmbH’s squad.
“Renault are needed in Formula One,” Jordan told the British Broadcasting Corp. “By them coming clean and making it easier for the FIA, they have certainly gained on leniency.”
Renault’s removal of Briatore and Symonds last week helped mitigate its sanction, the FIA confirmed. The ruling body said it also took into account an apology by Renault and a “significant” contribution it agreed to make to FIA road safety projects.
Not Swayed
Formula One Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ecclestone denied the prospect of Renault quitting the series influenced the FIA’s decision not to fine the carmaker.
“That has nothing to do with it,” Ecclestone said in an interview. He said the road-safety contribution by Renault was “more sensible” than a fine.
Bernard Rey, president of the Renault F1 Team, made a public apology and declined to make further comment yesterday after the ruling.
“We sincerely hope that we can soon put this matter behind us and focus constructively on the future,” the team said in a statement.
While the Formula One Teams Association can’t comment on the ruling, criticism of the FIA’s decision underlines the association’s repeated demands for more transparency, spokesman Charlie Methven said.
“This isn’t the first time there’s been a degree of confusion over why a certain punishment has been handed out,” Methven said.
The ruling “saves Renault from shutting up shop today,” Stoddart said. “The championship has had enough upheaval.”
(Source: Bloomberg)
