FIA knew about 'crashgate' last year
Nelson Piquet Senior informed Charlie Whiting of Renault's plot
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By Richard James. |  |
Friday, 18, Sep 2009 05:00
By Adam Leveridge
A high-ranking FIA official knew about the Renault 'crashgate' allegations as long ago as last year's season finale in Brazil, according to reports.
The Daily Mail published a transcript of Nelson Piquet Senior's interview with Quest Investigations, who were hired by the FIA to look into the race-fixing allegations.
In the transcript, Piquet said that he first heard about the deliberate crash from his son Nelson Piquet Junior just days after the inaugural night race, which took place in September 2008.
The three-time world champion revealed that he immediately spoke to his former Brabham colleague Charlie Whiting about the incident.
Today, Whiting is the FIA's technical and safety delegate, as well as formula one's official race controller and starter, therefore he is the first point of contact between teams and the governing body.
"When this thing happened in Singapore I couldn't believe it. I'd done motor racing for all my life," Piquet was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
"I couldn't believe this thing. And after I called Nelson and Nelson said yes they asked me if I could help and this and that.
"I said 'but you could have hurt yourself and if you didn't hurt yourself you could have hurt somebody else' and he said 'yeah, I know it's wrong' but anyway.
Piquet Sr continued: "Anyway in Brazil I talked to Charlie.
"I got him and I said 'look, what could happen to Nelson if I bring this up?' And I was afraid to screw up the career of Nelson."