http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78668

OMG!

OMG!

Indeed.

Well they'd already pretty much admitted that hadn't they (the only dispute being over who's idea idea it was). No surprises about the falling on swords – presumably hoping to avoid punishment for the team by removing guilty parties.

Briatore has been happy to cheat, ever since the Schumacher days. Good riddance, Flabbio. Deliberatly putting a driver in danger is very serious so I would expect Renault to be severly punished by the FIA for this.

The transcription of the radio conversation doesn't seem to fit with this outcome.

The transcription of the radio conversation doesn't seem to fit with this outcome

No – it didn't seem to be the smoking gun everyone expected

FIA adviser: Mr Symonds were you aware that there was going to be crash at Lap 14?

Symonds: I don't want to answer that question.

Deliberatly putting a driver in danger is very serious so I would expect Renault to be severly punished by the FIA for this.

But the driver did that, not the team. Driver could have been asked to take himself out of the race, that could have been done by getting stuck in a gravel trap, not bouncing off a wall with huge financial costs etc. However to get a safety car out I suppose thats harder to fix.

The transcription of the radio conversation

Where would I find that?

I was assuming that would be fairly clean though, given they know these transmissions are being monitored nowadays – hence why it needed to be pre-arranged.

Whilst looking I found this transcript though, which is pretty damning by omission – especially when he says at the end that he'd expect conclusions to be drawn!

Driver could have been asked to take himself out of the race

But he wasn't – he was asked to get the safety car out, which is a whole different thing, and did require him to bounce off the wall.

The transcription of the radio conversation doesn't seem to fit with this outcome.

Funny that! Its hardly like Flavio's going to shout down the radio "Crash now Nelson!" is he?

The transcription is on planet f1. Can't link to it as i'm browsing with my pikey phone

Briatore has been happy to cheat, ever since the Schumacher days. Good riddance

+1

Good riddance.

In addition, I dont think Piquet or Symmonds should get another job in F1 again. ALL are as bad as each other. Fixing races stinks.

A pundit on one of the F1 sites came up with a plausible MO – given what was already leaked

Alonso is put on low fuel in the hope of something happening & therefore making the most of his – out of position – grid slot & this is obviously discussed at the post qualli debrief
Baby Piquet later suggests to Symonds/Briatore that he could crash deliberately & help the odds a bit
Race day – after much chin rubbing – Piquet is called in & told when & where it would have the best effect

Piquet didn't think it up on his own, tho – the team asked him to crash at a corner where they knew it would cause a safety car incident. The transcripts wouldn't show anything as the whole thing was pre-planned and the team knew they would be monitored. The 'smoking gun' is the telemetry, which shows NP applied throttle harder and earlier on the crash lap and continued to hold it down after the car started to slide.

Hard to argue it really, the telemetry would give it away.

Still, briatore is "retiring" to holidays on the beach with his wife…

I'm sure he wont care.

But the driver did that, not the team. Driver could have been asked to take himself out of the race, that could have been done by getting stuck in a gravel trap, not bouncing off a wall with huge financial costs etc. However to get a safety car out I suppose thats harder to fix.

There aren't any gravel traps at Singapore IIRC – it's all Armco & concrete

So, what do you think attracted her to multi millionaire Flavio Briatore?

So, what do you think attracted her to multi millionaire Flavio Briatore?

His cash, that he probably still has…

I think Cheesy was being rhetorical 🙂

I think Cheesy was being rhetorical

I think he was being a plagiarist (copyright Mrs Merton when questioning Debbie Maghee about her marriage to Paul Daniels IIRC).

😉

I wonder if Flav & Ecclestone will still sit together in the director's box at QPR?

If nothing else, at least something interestings happened in formula 1.

So "overtaking" via pitstop is too exciting for you – you prefer "overtaking" via law court? 🙄

Mad Max is trying to break the Fellowship of the Ring 😆

French team cheats after it becomes clear their motor conveyance is unable to compete with Germanic technology shocker.

This is a bit like Rumfeld's 'the knows we know' speech at the moment

But I guess the big question now is who else knew? – I guess by that I mean did Alonso know? before, after or not until now?

Which Germanic technology is that?

I like the fact that when Bernie was asked if Flavio was a friend he replied "he likes to think so"

I wonder if Ferrari will still want Alonso after this.
'Hello Mr Domenicali, please can you fix it for me to win a race because I haven't won any for a long time.'
Are Massa and Piquet Jr friends? Could make the Ferrari garage a bit tense!

At least it leaves Flavio free to stand for FIA president to replace Max!

I wonder if Ferrari will still want Alonso after this.

But do you think Alonso asked for the race to be fixed?

We await the Spanish Inquisition

I wonder if Ferrari will still want Alonso after this.

Can you remember Massa's race @ Singapore last year?

He was leading until baby Piquets crash
In the panic to get in & out of the pits under the [Renault manufactured] safety car Massa left whilst still attached to his fuel hose
it would be reasonable to expect him to have carried on & scored good points – probably won if that hadn't of happened

He would therefore have been world champ – had all other races last year still finished as they did

Can't condone cheating, but from a tactical point, it did work!

Which Germanic technology is that?

Merc engines? Probably only the badge but that wasn't the point I was jovially making …

Which Germanic technology is that?

Must be that technology mainly developed in that part of Germany known as 'The Thames Valley'.

Flav for President?

Well he has juust taken a public spanking 😀

We await the Spanish Inquisition

You expect too much……………………

Maybe they should just allow F1 teams to work as a team? I mean it's not like pro tour teams are trying to get a discovery/anasta/confidis/rabobank/etc 1,2,3 are they? They want 1 man on the podium and the rest of them to dutifully tow them to the line.