Renault race-fixing case: Symonds' no comment speaks volumes
Renault will appear before the FIA's WMSC on September 21st
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By Will Haine. |  |
Tuesday, 15, Sep 2009 04:33
By Adam Leveridge
With less than a week to go until Renault answers race-fixing allegations at a hearing of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), the sport's governing body revealed that it would be prepared to grant immunity to the team's technical director Pat Symonds, should he co-operate fully with the investigation.
Allegations surfaced before the Belgian grand prix over two weeks ago, that members of the Renault team had asked Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash out of last year's Singapore grand prix, to guarantee a safety car period and help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.
It has been suggested that, in return for helping the team, Piquet received an extension of his contract, despite some dismal performances earlier in the season.
On September 10th, Piquet's signed affidavit to the FIA was leaked to the media and today, the governing body has published a transcript of conversations between engineers, Symonds and Renault team principle Flavio Briatore which took place during F1's inaugural night race.
In his signed statement, Piquet alleges that both Symonds and Briatore were present at the meeting, during which he was asked to cause a safety car by crashing out at turn 17 where there was no recovery equipment.
The Brazilian states that he went along with the plan because he was in a fragile state of mind over the uncertainty regarding his drive for the 2009 season.
"I accepted because I hoped that it could improve my position within the team at this critical time in the race season," said Piquet.
"At no point was I told by anyone that by agreeing to cause an incident, I would be guaranteed a renewal of my contract or any other advantage."
In another transcript of Symonds interview with the FIA at Spa, the technical director refuses to answer many of the questions put to him regarding the allegations and, when he is told that the stewards may draw conclusions from his unwillingness to assist with the investigation, he responded by saying:
"I would expect them to. I would absolutely expect that."
Although it is unclear what other evidence the FIA has, Symonds reluctance to co-operate with the FIA in Belgium speaks volumes in my opinion and this, coupled with Piquet's statement and the pit-to-car radio transcript, doesn't help Renault's cause ahead of the crucial WMSC hearing on September 21st.
I guess the adage of 'innocent until proven guilty' has to apply here, but as the evidence filters into the public domain, the situation gets more and more bleak for the Renault team.