Singapore 2008: Briatore and Symmonds resign

Interesting last paragraph on James Allen's blog;

With Briatore and McLaren’s Ron Dennis having now departed the scene in similar circumstances, there is only Sir Frank Williams of F1’s original big beasts, left in the sport. He has played a different game from his peers in recent years, sided with the FIA over the breakaway and not been a leading rebel in the FOTA breakaway.

What could Max do anyway, push Frank down a set of stadium steps a la OJ in Naked Gun? :D

Blimey. I'd expected Renault to plead some mitigation, they'd get a hefty find that would be that, not this!

Renault's future in F1 must be quite shaky now :s

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

Another VERY valid point is this;

Massa lost the title last year by a gnats chuff. We have to take account of the botched traffic light pit release system, but, without the SC etc, would the Ferrari crew have been more relaxed?

Given Massa's current situation, his career could - and I so hope not - be destined to 'go for a Burton' if he is not the man he was.

He lost therefore theoretically his only realistic chance of becoming WDC...

All theoretical of course, but one man's greed has lost another man's well deserved reward.

And I am not taking anything away from Lewis here either.

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going on that logic, Lewis could/should have scored 2 more points if Alonso had not won, and all F1 pitstops ar critical and pressured, so i doubt there would have been much change there. so you could argue that Lewis should have had 2 additional points (without the safety car Nico would not have been in front either and arguably thats a 4 point increase)

to many ifs and buts to work out what potentially could have changed in the result from a diffewrent course of action. if we open up that we may as well try to work out the alterntioves from all oft he stewards decisions (drive throughs etc) and any pit/driver mistakes from Ferrari, McLaren, or anyone else who finished ahead of either massa or hamilton last year.

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Originally Posted by Mark

Blimey. I'd expected Renault to plead some mitigation, they'd get a hefty find that would be that, not this!

Renault's future in F1 must be quite shaky now :s

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i'd read all this as a sign of Renaults desire to stayu in the sport - if they were not that bothered why would they ship out Symonds and Flav. they can only hope that the act will add leniency to the WSMC decision. they can only have assumed that the evidence was too damning, or knew/found out that they were guilty and chose to come clean before making it worse by fighting.

brave move, but i think it will signal the continued existence of the Renault F1 team, rather than the ending of it.

if they do go there will be a lot of talented folks filling positions with Manor and Lotus very quickly

Is this a shoe in for Dave Richards or Prost?

Shocking but inevitable: Renault had to so something to minimise their punishment. A fine on the scale of McLaren's, or a ban, would almost certainly see the board pull out of F1 altogether.

This is simply damage limitation, it doesn't change the fact that they're not contesting the charges. I hope Briatore never sets foot in a race paddock again.

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Originally Posted by Knock-on

Is this a shoe in for Dave Richards or Prost?

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Would Prost want to go through all that again? Dave Richards, hmmmm, isn't he Prodrive/Aston contracted?

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Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

Shocking but inevitable: Renault had to so something to minimise their punishment. A fine on the scale of McLaren's, or a ban, would almost certainly see the board pull out of F1 altogether.

This is simply damage limitation, it doesn't change the fact that they're not contesting the charges. I hope Briatore never sets foot in a race paddock again.

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OK, sooooooo, is Alonso tainted goods now?

Can the thread title be changed to show that they were fired and didn't resign? It's the truth after all.

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

OK, sooooooo, is Alonso tainted goods now?

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Now? He always was - unsporting and petulant, and prone to hissy-fits if he's not the clear number one. However, he's one of the very best drivers in the sport so still has a phenomenal value to any team considering him. If I were courting him I'd be thinking that the price has just come down a few million.

That's assuming, of course, that he knew nothing about this plot...