F1 can’t help being its own worst enemy

[Blue_Tires]

ugh...i keep forgetting there is a motorsport forum and i'm letting it go to waste...


Don’t even try to figure out the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s (FIA) decisions because they simply make little sense.

After finding the Renault Formula One team guilty of ordering one of its drivers to crash deliberately to fix the outcome of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, the sport’s governing body let them walk away from its World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Monday without any real punishment.

The WMSC ruled no sanctions were necessary because Renault had already fired team boss Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds, who ordered driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash early in the Singapore race and cause a safety car period, which set the stage for his teammate, Fernando Alonso, to win.The WMSC did slap a two-year ban from F1 competition on the Renault team, which will not be enforced unless it asks another driver to crash deliberately to change the outcome of a race.

The only real punishment went to Briatore, who was banned from the sport for life, and Symonds, who is out of the sport for five years. Piquet was given immunity for blowing the whistle on his bosses.

“It’s a regrettable day for F1,” said former Minardi F1 team owner Paul Stoddart.

“I find myself worrying about the bigger picture. For the 10 years I was in the paddock, I always used to say that F1 survived despite the best efforts of those at the top to destroy it.”

Two years ago, the FIA fined McLaren $100-million (U.S.) for espionage after one of its engineers received a confidential technical document from a Ferrari worker and made use of the information.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/auto/f1-cant-help-being-its-own-worst-enemy/article1299762/