Renault gets two-year suspended F1 ban

Renault have been given a two-year suspended ban from Formula 1 for their role in fixing last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The team were called before governing body the FIA to answer charges they had asked driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso win.

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA sanctioned events for an unlimited period.

Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

Briatore and Symonds parted company with Renault last week at the same time as the French car giant said they would not contest the charges.

The FIA agreed not to pursue action against Piquet for his role in uncovering the details of the scandal.

In addition to banning Renault, the WMSC handed out hefty individual penalties to Briatore and Symonds. Neither will be allowed any involvement in FIA-sanctioned motorsport, Briatore indefinitely and Symonds for the next five years.

Piquet, who was dropped by Renault in July, was granted immunity from sanction for volunteering his evidence in the investigation.

“We are very sad to find ourselves in front of the Word Motor Sport Council today,” said Renault team president Bernard Rey after the Paris hearing. “By way of background, as a result of our own enquiries, we informed the FIA last week that we would not defend the charges and we accepted our responsibilities in relation to the incident in Singapore and we immediately took appropriate action inside the team.

The governing body said the severity of Briatore’s penalty was the result of the both nature of the scandal and “his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence”.

The FIA said Renault’s former driver Nelson Piquet Jr, who was found guilty of conspiring with Symonds and Briatore to cause the crash with helped its other driver Fernando Alonso win the race, “apologised unreservedly” for his part in the plot, but will face no personal punishment after the FIA offered him full immunity in exchange for a full disclosure of the facts.

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has been cleared of all involvement in the plot and the FIA thanked the double world champion for his help with its enquires after he appeared at Tuesday’s hearing.