Renault F1 Discraces F1 and Demeans Motor Sports in General

NASCAR likes to use the blanket violation of "Actions Detrimental to the Sport" to penalize those that transgress against NASCAR. Over the past year, Renault F1 has defined what "Actions Detrimental to the Sport" truly are. There are several versions of the story, but essentially here is what transpired at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Flavio Briatore, team principal of Renault and manager for driver Nelson Piquet Jr. along with chief engineer Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jr. arranged for Piquet Jr. to crash out of the race at an opportune time for the other Renault driver Fernando Alonso. Piquet did so and it essentially handed the race to Alonso who ultimately won the race. It took over a year for this to publicly come to light; Piquet Jr. went to the FIA when he was fired from Renault by Briatore in the last couple of months. In the ensuing investigation, Piquet was given immunity for his testimony, Briatore and Symonds left Renault ultimately being handed by the FIA a lifetime and five year ban respectively. I don't believe that the FIA went far enough; those actions truly were detrimental not only to F1 but motor sport in general. It put the whole sport into disrepute.

• Some reports indicate that Nelson Piquet Sr. informed the FIA of the above at the 2008 Brazilian GP. No further action was taken because no one involved stepped forward? The FIA was informed of cheating and attempted race fixing and no investigation was begun because no one INVOLVED stepped forward? As if you really expect them to?
• Nelson Piquet Jr. waited until he was fired from Renault to go to the FIA. He was given immunity for his testimony. The FIA already knew that he was involved if you believe that Nelson Piquet Sr. had already told the FIA what happened. He didn't deserve immunity. Ultimately, it also came to light through testimony from multiple sources that Piquet was the one who thought up the stunt; because of the immunity he got off with no punishment.
• Renault was allowed to keep the win. If it was proven that they cheated and attempted to fix the race, the win should have been stripped. Simply put, the FIA rewarded cheating.
• The FIA should not allow the same person to be both a team principal and driver manager. It is a conflict of interest. Imagine yourself in a young driver's position when your boss, who is also your manager tells you to "do this or else." You are forced to chose between evaporating your developing career and committing a dishonorable act, essentially a choice between worse and worse. Not a position that I would envy.

Mac McCormick III