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Crimes of any kind should be investigated whenever they are discovered.Quote:
Originally Posted by rabf1
And BTW fixing the result of a sporting event is apparently considered a crime in Singapore (and if I remember rightly people were convicted in Italy to for some football game results being fixed) and the Renault team bosses might risk prison over there.
from what Symonds has supposedly said perhaps there is enough to suggest that it was a bit more than Piquets normal driving, and as asuch moves have started to hang the guy out to dry - after all he's the guy who carried it out (if it happened), so expect Renault to close ranks and pin it all on Jnr.
Renault staff already made contradictory statements, it's to late to close ranks after you have lied and others know it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
Also it will be a bit difficult to expect others to believe that Alonso's first short stint, decided already Saturday after the qualifying has been masterminded by Piquet Jr. and the team accepted it.
To many things don't add up in this theory that Piquet Jr. is at fault for what happened, one of them being that he wouldn't be as stupid as to go and tell the FIA if he was indeed the one who was behind the whole affair.
Also why is that even though according to Symonds the team knew about what Piquet was up to, they agreed to go ahead with his plan instead of firing him on the very first moment they learned about it?!
Looks to me that either Renault leaves F1 as a result or they will hang Symonds (and maybe Flavio too) out to dry.
Well this sort of thing can end up in a criminal court very easily. Causing danger etc. If Piquet admits he crashed intentionally, he's in a very vulnerable situation regarding the law, I would think.Quote:
Originally Posted by ioan
I didn't mean that. I meant that if you do such a thing, why give contradictory statements afterwards? If you choose the path, you must follow it. Bonus of that would be that Renault would stay in F1. Now we might well see another manufacturer go.Quote:
Originally Posted by keysersoze
The cross never minded my thought!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by I am evil Homer
I'm tired of this story already. wish it would just go away. There is no way these claims can be even substantiated based on rumor and hearsay. And whatever comments where made a year ago cannot be even taken properly into context this year. It seems to me that piquet knowing that his F1 career is probably over decided to take a parting shot at Renault, along with with Mosley.
To me, if this is prove true, the real culprit would still be piquet as he had the choice not to follow the order and still decided to go crash his car. No matter what the team tells you to do, as a driver, it is your responsibility out on the track to make your decisions. F1 history is full of situations where drivers disobeyed team communications for their own gain, many for much less requests than to crash a car. IF this were true and the order came through the radio, any normal driver's response would be "WTF? I'm not doing that" and then deal with whatever fallout that would come with all the chips on his side if the team tried to take action. It would be the that he would go to the FIa and state his case. not 1year later after many more crashes and a firing for non performance.
As I have said, I don't believe NPJr and find it hard to imagine that Pat Symmonds had anything to do with such a stupid order. All this situation is doing is tainting the sport, and potentially having Renault decide to leave the sport to everyone's detriment, except Max Mosley, who would be happy as can be with no manufacturers in the sport, a single engine supplier and a joke of an F1 series.
I know this sounds harsh but as an F1 fan I think F1 and FIA should somehow bury this thing, give golden handshakes or whatever to make this go away. F1 just cannot afford this type of publicity and the possible pull-out by Renault would mean that one team would be without engines and one would be gone altogether. 3 manufacturer-pullouts in a space of one year is too much. Soon there are not enough engines to go around, except archaic Cosworths. IMO Piquet didn't do the thing alone, but it's done, nothing can be done about it now.
NELSON PIQUET JR'S STATEMENT TO THE FIA IN FULL:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21798.html
Nelson Piquet's FIA statement revealed
The legal statement made to the FIA by Nelson Piquet Jr has been leaked to the F1SA website. It is not clear how this has happened but we believe that the World Council dossier has been sent out and the leak must come from one of the members.
The statement made is as follows:
I, Nelson Angelo Piquet, born July 25, 1985 in Heidelberg, Germany...say as follows:
1. Except as otherwise stated, the facts and statements contained in this Statement are based on facts and matters within my knowledge. I believe such facts and statements contained in this Statement to be true and correct. Where any facts or statements are not within my own knowledge, they are true to the best of my knowledge and belief and, where appropriate, I indicate the source of that knowledge and belief.
2. I make this Statement voluntarily to the FIA and for the purposes of allowing the FIA to exercise its supervisory and regulatory functions with regard to the FIA Formula One World Championship.
3. I am aware that there is a duty upon all participants in the FIA Formula One World Championship and all Super Licence holders to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the Championship and I am aware that serious consequences could follow if I were to provide the FIA with any false or misleading statement.
4. I understand that my complete statement has been recorded on audio tape and that a full transcript of my audio recording will be made available to me and the FIA. The present document constitutes a summary of the main points made during my full oral statement.
5. I wish to bring the following facts to the FIA’s attention.
6. During the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore, held on 28 September 2008 and counting towards the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, I was asked by Mr. Flavio Briatore, who is both my manager and the Team Principal of the ING Renault F1 Team, and by Mr. Pat Symonds, the Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team, to deliberately crash my car in order to positively influence the performance of the ING Renault F1 Team at the event in question. I agreed to this proposal and caused my car to hit a wall and crash during lap thirteen/fourteen of the race.
7. The proposal to deliberately cause an accident was made to me shortly before the race took place, when I was summoned by Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds in Mr. Briatore’s office. Mr. Symonds, in the presence of Mr. Briatore, asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice my race for the team by “causing a safety car”. Every F1 race driver knows that the safety car is deployed on a track when there is an accident which leads to the track being blocked either by debris or a stationary car, and where it is difficult to recover a damaged car, as was the case here.
8. At the time of this conversation I was in a very fragile and emotional state of mind. This state of mind was brought about by intense stress due to the fact that Mr. Briatore had refused to inform me of whether or not my driver’s contract would be renewed for the next racing year (2009), as is customarily the case in the middle of the year (around July or August). Instead, Mr. Briatore repeatedly requested me to sign an “option”, which meant that I was not allowed to negotiate with any other teams in the meantime. He would repeatedly put pressure on me to prolong the option I had signed, and would regularly summon me into his office to discuss these renewals, even on racing days – a moment which should be a moment of concentration and relaxation before the race. This stress was accentuated by the fact that during the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore I had qualified sixteenth on the grid, so I was very insecure about my future at the Renault team. When I was asked to crash my car and cause a safety car incident in order to help the team, I accepted because I hoped that it could improve my position within the team at this critical time in the race season. 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. However, in the context, I thought that it would be helpful in achieving this goal. I therefore agreed to cause the incident.
9. After the meeting with Mr. Symonds and Mr. Briatore, Mr. Symonds took me aside to a quiet corner and, using a map, pointed me to the exact corner of the track where I should crash. This corner was selected because the specific location of the track did not have any cranes that would allow a damaged car to be swiftly lifted off the track, nor did it have any side entrances to the track, which would allow a Safety Marshall to quickly move the damaged car away from the track. Therefore, it was felt that a crash in this specific position would be nearly certain to cause an obstruction on the track which would thus necessitate the deployment of a safety car in order to allow the track to be cleared and to ensure the safe continuation of the race.
[]B10. Mr. Symonds also told me which exact lap to cause the incident upon, so that a strategy could deployed for my team-mate Mr. Fernando Alonso to refuel at the pit shortly before the deployment of the safety car, which he indeed did during lap twelve. The key to this strategy resided in the fact that the near-knowledge that the safety car would be deployed in lap thirteen/fourteen allowed the Team to start Mr. Alonso’s car with an aggressive fuel strategy using a light car containing enough fuel to arrive at lap twelve, but not much more. This would allow Mr. Alonso to overtake as many (heavier) cars as possible, knowing that those cars would have difficulty catching up with him later in the race due to the later deployment of the safety car. This strategy was successful and Mr. Alonso won the 2008 Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore.[/B]
11. During these discussions, no mention was made of any concerns with respect to the security implications of this strategy, either for myself, the public or other drivers. The only comment made in this context was one by Mr. Pat Symonds who warned me to “be careful”, which I took to mean that I should not injure myself.
12. I intentionally caused the crash by letting go of control of the car just before the relevant corner. In order to make sure I would cause the incident during the correct lap, I asked my team several times via the radio to confirm the lap number, which I would not normally do. I was not injured during the accident, nor was anyone else.
13. After the discussions with Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds discussed above, the ‘accident strategy’ was never discussed again with either of them. Mr. Briatore discreetly said “thank you” after the end of the race, without mentioning anything further. I do not know if anyone else was aware of this strategy at the start of the race.
14. After the race I informed Mr. Felipe Vargas, a family friend and advisor, of the fact that the incident had been deliberate. Mr. Vargas further infirmed my father, Mr. Nelson Piquet, some time later.
15. After the race several journalists asked questions about the accident and asked me whether I had caused it on purpose, because they felt it was ‘suspicious’.
16. In my own team, the engineer of my car questioned the nature of the incident because he found it unusual, and I replied that I had lost control of the car. I believe that a clever engineer would notice from the car’s telemetry that I caused the incident on purpose as I continued accelerating , whereas a “normal” reaction would be to brake as soon as possible.
Statement of Truth
I believe and swear that the facts set out in this statement are true.
This statement was made at the FIA Headquarters in Paris on 30 July 2009 in presence of Mr. Alan Donnelly (FIA Chairman of the Stewards), Mr. Martin Smith and Mr. Jacob Marsh (both of investigations firm Quest, retained by the FIA to assist with its investigation). Notes were taken by Ms. Domenique Costesec (Sidley Austin LLP).
Signed:
Nelson Piquet Jr.
I want to be angry, but all I can manage at the moment is sadness that my sport has been sullied by the combined actions of a clueless team owner, a desperate technical director and a foolish driver.
When this first broke I believed (hoped) that there was no foundation to the rumor, however it seems the rules of fair play and sportsmanship mean nothing to these people :(
You mean golden handcuffs?!Quote:
Originally Posted by DexDexter