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FIA offer Renault boss immunity to testify against Flavio Briatore
Testimony from engineering chief Pat Symonds could support Nelson Piquet Jr’s claims that he was instructed to crash his car
Just as the Formula One roadshow leaves Monza for Singapore – scene of the recently alleged 'race-fixing' crash by Renault at last year’s inaugural Grand Prix – the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) has offered Renault's engineering director Pat Symonds immunity if he reveals what Renault was up to in Singapore in 2008.
In other words, the FIA now appears to be taking very seriously the accusation by Nelson Piquet Jr that he was ordered by Renault team chief Flavio Briatore and Symonds to purposefully crash his car last year, allowing team-mate Fernando Alonso to win the race.
When Piquet's allegation first emerged - in the form of a leaked witness statement - Renault denied the charge forcefully and announced it would be launching a legal action against Piquet Jr and his father, the former three-times world champion, who had supported his son's claims.
Briatore said the story was fabricated in an effort to blackmail him into keeping Piquet Jr on as the team's second driver, despite his having won no points for Renault in the first half of the season.
Should Symonds accept the offered immunity, it will mean Briatore will be the only one of the erstwhile Renault trio (himself, Piquet Jr and Symonds) to attend next week's World Motor Sport Council in Paris without such an offer. If Symonds were to be found guilty of the charge of instructing his driver to crash, he could be banned from motorsport for life.
The Times reports today that the FIA feels it is "reasonable, on balance" to assume that Piquet's claims have substance, which suggests that Briatore may find himself carrying the can for what Max Mosley, the FIA's president, describes as one of "the most disturbing accusation of chicanery and deception" he has encountered in his 18 years in charge of F1.
Speaking to the Guardian's Donald McRae, Mosley said: "If it turns out to be true, then obviously it is very serious. It's the sort of thing we don't want." He also revealed that initial evidence backed up Piquet Jr's story. "The data from the car indicated that something very unusual had happened on the corner where he crashed - according to the experts. So there was enough there to make it unthinkable not to investigate." ·
