Formula One’s crumbling reputation suffered another body blow on Friday when paddock superpower Renault accused former driver Nelson Piquet of blackmail as the “race fix” controversy took a series of bitter, new twists.
Renault announced they were launching criminal proceedings against Piquet and his father, three-time world champion Nelson Piquet Snr, in relation to claims that the team conspired to fix the outcome of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
On a dramatic day of claim and counterclaim, which overshadowed the build-up to today’s Italian Grand Prix, Piquet, who was sacked by the team in August, insisted he would not be bullied by the French team.
PHOTO: AFP
Meanwhile, the International Motorsport Federation (FIA) said Piquet would be offered immunity from prosecution if he told the truth, while it also launched an investigation into how the Brazilian’s testimony over the affair had been leaked to the media.
Renault have already been summoned to appear before the FIA’s International Motor Sport Council in Paris on Sept. 21 to answer allegations that Piquet was asked to crash his car deliberately into a wall during the Singapore race and so facilitate a victory for teammate Fernando Alonso. In the race, Piquet crashed and Alonso went on to win.
On Friday morning, Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore denied all the accusations against him — notably conspiring with team management and Piquet Jr to cause a deliberate accident — and said that they were “outrageous lies.”
In a statement, Renault said: “The Renault F1 team had not commented publicly during the FIA’s initial investigation into this matter. However, today the Renault F1 team, and its managing director Flavio Briatore personally, wish to state that they have commenced criminal proceedings against Nelson Piquet Junior and Nelson Piquet Senior in France concerning the making of false allegations and a related attempt to blackmail the team into allowing Piquet Jr to drive for the remainder of the 2009 season. The matter will also be referred to the police in the UK.”
If the charges against Renault are proved, the team could face expulsion from the sport.
Piquet is reported to have claimed that he was asked to crash deliberately and these claims, as presented in a document that was leaked on Thursday, caused uproar at Monza.
Piquet insists he has told the truth, adding he refuses to be bullied by either Renault or Briatore.
In a statement, Piquet Jr said: “Regarding the current FIA investigation, I confirm that I have cooperated fully and honestly with the sport’s governing body. Because I am telling the truth, I have nothing to fear, whether from the Renault team or Mr Briatore, and whilst I am well aware of the power and influence of those being investigated and the vast resources at their disposal, I will not be bullied again into making a decision I regret.”
Not to be outdone, Briatore then followed his former employee by launching a counteroffensive.
“The fact that we put a plan for blackmail against the two Piquets, means we are very confident that the truth will come out,” the flamboyant Briatore told reporters. “I find it illogical that there have been leaks which have made it impossible for us to defend ourselves. It’s an enormous shame for our team and the people who work there. It’s not fair to criminalize a team before there has been a sentence. With everything that has appeared in the media, we have already been condemned. In a situation like this, we are the victims.”
Max Mosley, the outgoing FIA president, said that the body would treat race-fixing as one degree more serious than outright cheating if the charges against Renault were proved.
“We have said to him [Piquet] that — and I don’t know exactly how it was phrased — but he has been told that if he tells us the truth then he will not be proceeded against individually,” Mosley said. “It is exactly the same as it was for Alonso [in the McLaren case in 2007].”
Two years ago, ironically, it was Alonso, then with McLaren, who was offered immunity when the FIA began investigations into the “spy-gate” affair in which McLaren were found to have secret Ferrari documents in their possession.
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