Renault F1 – Briatore & Symonds resign

Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds have resigned over the Piquet accident fixing allegation.

Oh, dear.

The accident fixing allegations surrounding the Renault F1 team and their former driver – Nelson Piquet Jnr – have rumbled on over the past days, with Briatore declaring he was suing Piquet – and his father – for blackmail over allegations that Piquet Jnr was ordered by Briatore to crash his car during the Singapore Grand Prix to enable Fernando Alonso to go on and take Renault’s one and only victory in this years Grand Prix Calendar.

But it was hard to get your head round the allegations being false, particularly as they were backed up by three-times world champion Piquet Snr. It’s one thing to indulge your offspring, but it’s hard to believe that Dad would back son unless he was convinced. The FIA were also taking things seriously and had given Piquet Jnr immunity from sanctions for his part in the debacle.

And in the latest twist Flavio Briatore and Renault’s engineering boss Pat Symonds have both resigned from Renault F1. And Renault have declared that they won’t be challenging the allegations at the FIA Sport Council meeting in Paris next week. Not an out and out ‘Mea Culpa’, but as close as.

So what will happen to Renault? It rather depends on how deep the allegations go within Renault. If they don’t stretch beyond Briatore and Symonds – and we won’t know until after the FIA meeting just how deep the allegations are – it is possible that Renault will just get banned for this year or maybe just have all their points docked. But if the FIA believes the accident-fixing was corporate it is possible that Renault will face a long-term ban from all motor racing.

Serious stuff, and in one fell swoop Briatore has wrecked his career, as has Symonds. Where this will leave his relationship with F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone (they jointly own Crystal Palace) remains to be seen.

But there’ll be some harsh truths to face.