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[EwanM]

Alonso unaware of alleged Renault plan

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, September 10th 2009, 10:53 GMT

Fernando Alonso knew nothing of the alleged plan for Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately at last year's Singapore Grand Prix in a bid to help him win the race, AUTOSPORT has learned.

While the focus of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council hearing later this month now appears to revolve around what took place in a pre-race meeting between Piquet, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, it has emerged that Alonso was not involved in any of the tactics.

AUTOSPORT understands that Alonso was interviewed at the Belgian Grand Prix as part of the FIA investigation into exactly what took place in Singapore last year.

Sources have revealed that he told the stewards, plus representatives of the Quest agency and lawyers Sidley Austin LLP, that he was unaware that Piquet planned to crash deliberately early in the race.

It is understood that Alonso told the investigators that he had accepted his strategy to stop so early in the race simply because he wanted an 'aggressive' approach to the event.

A report submitted ahead of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council hearing into the matter, which takes place in Paris on September 21, confirms that Alonso "knew nothing of the alleged plan to cause a deliberate crash."

Sources have also revealed that race engineers at Renault were also unaware of any plan for Piquet to crash - with some of them having also been interviewed in Belgium.

It is understood that one engineer even questioned Piquet after the Singapore race about exactly what happened when he spun into the wall on lap 14 of the race. The Brazilian replied that he had simply lost control of the car.

There was also some debate on the pit wall during the race when Alonso was brought into the pits on lap 12 of the race - which was earlier than his fuel load would have allowed him to go.

Radio transcripts of the race, which have been obtained by the FIA, show that director of engineering Symonds did not share the concerns of fellow team members about making such an early stop – telling the team: "No, no, it's going to be alright."

Piquet claims that in the pre-race meeting in Singapore he was asked to crash deliberately in the race to help Alonso win, while Symonds and Briatore are both adamant that the idea came from the Brazilian driver himself.

Renault has said it will issue no comment about the matter prior to the FIA hearing later this month.

[EwanM]

Alonso 'surprised' by Singapore row

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78455

By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, September 10th 2009, 13:42 GMT

Fernando Alonso says he has been surprised by the events surrounding his Renault team over the last days, but the Spaniard insisted he is only focusing on doing a good job this weekend at Monza.

Alonso's Renault team will have to face the FIA later this month amid accusations of race-fixing strategies at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, won by Alonso himself.

The two-time champion, who is still to reveal his plans for next year, admitted he was taken by surprise by the controversy.

"Yeah, of course," he told reporters at Monza. "I'm very surprised. I cannot imagine this situation, so as I said, I'm surprised, and it's time to think in another job, in Monza and the next grand prix because I'm not spending any more time on this."

He added: "I will not comment too much about this, as the team said we will not comment. For me it's not even the time to think or to pay attention to this, because it's difficult to understand for me all this situation and this investigation.

"It's just another day, and I'm trying to prepare the Monza race and trying to get a good result here, so I'm fully concentrated on the job.

"As I said, I will not spend the whole press conference commenting on Singapore, because there is not much to say from me. As I said, I was surprised, but the next step is to think of the next grand prix at Monza and after the hearing everything will be clarified and it will be the time to say something, but now it makes no sense."

When asked if he was aware of the alleged plans by Renault to ask team-mate Nelson Piquet to crash during the Singapore race, Alonso said: "No."

He also insisted the current controversy would not affect he plans for the 2010 season.

"No. No change," he said.

The two-time world champion made it clear he was giving team boss Flavio Briatore his full support.

"Of course, Flavio has been always a nice boss with me. He's a friend, he's a boss. He has supported my career since the times when I was in Minardi. I think Flavio is one of the good people here and he has all my support always."

[bud]

playing dumb wont work Fernando.

[EwanM]

Following on from the allegations that Renault fixed the race in Singapore, we have obtained a copy of the full statement given by Nelsinho Piquet to the FIA regarding the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix:

I, Nelson Angelo Piquet, born July 25, 1985 in Heidelberg, Germany…say as follows:

1. Except as otherwise stated, the facts and statements contained in this Statement are based on facts and matters within my knowledge. I believe such facts and statements contained in this Statement to be true and correct. Where any facts or statements are not within my own knowledge, they are true to the best of my knowledge and belief and, where appropriate, I indicate the source of that knowledge and belief.

2. I make this Statement voluntarily to the FIA and for the purposes of allowing the FIA to exercise its supervisory and regulatory functions with regard to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

3. I am aware that there is a duty upon all participants in the FIA Formula One World Championship and all Super Licence holders to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the Championship and I am aware that serious consequences could follow if I were to provide the FIA with any false or misleading statement.

4. I understand that my complete statement has been recorded on audio tape and that a full transcript of my audio recording will be made available to me and the FIA. The present document constitutes a summary of the main points made during my full oral statement.

5. I wish to bring the following facts to the FIA’s attention.

6. During the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore, held on 28 September 2008 and counting towards the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, I was asked by Mr. Flavio Briatore, who is both my manager and the Team Principal of the ING Renault F1 Team, and by Mr. Pat Symonds, the Technical Director of the Renault F1 Team, to deliberately crash my car in order to positively influence the performance of the ING Renault F1 Team at the event in question. I agreed to this proposal and caused my car to hit a wall and crash during lap thirteen/fourteen of the race.

7. The proposal to deliberately cause an accident was made to me shortly before the race took place, when I was summoned by Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds in Mr. Briatore’s office. Mr. Symonds, in the presence of Mr. Briatore, asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice my race for the team by “causing a safety car”. Every F1 race driver knows that the safety car is deployed on a track when there is an accident which leads to the track being blocked either by debris or a stationary car, and where it is difficult to recover a damaged car, as was the case here.

8. At the time of this conversation I was in a very fragile and emotional state of mind. This state of mind was brought about by intense stress due to the fact that Mr. Briatore had refused to inform me of whether or not my driver’s contract would be renewed for the next racing year (2009), as is customarily the case in the middle of the year (around July or August). Instead, Mr. Briatore repeatedly requested me to sign an “option”, which meant that I was not allowed to negotiate with any other teams in the meantime. He would repeatedly put pressure on me to prolong the option I had signed, and would regularly summon me into his office to discuss these renewals, even on racing days – a moment which should be a moment of concentration and relaxation before the race. This stress was accentuated by the fact that during the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore I had qualified sixteenth on the grid, so I was very insecure about my future at the Renault team. When I was asked to crash my car and cause a safety car incident in order to help the team, I accepted because I hoped that it could improve my position within the team at this critical time in the race season. At no point was I told by anyone that by agreeing to cause an incident, I would be guaranteed a renewal of my contract or any other advantage. However, in the context, I thought that it would be helpful in achieving this goal. I therefore agreed to cause the incident.

9. After the meeting with Mr. Symonds and Mr. Briatore, Mr. Symonds took me aside to a quiet corner and, using a map, pointed me to the exact corner of the track where I should crash. This corner was selected because the specific location of the track did not have any cranes that would allow a damaged car to be swiftly lifted off the track, nor did it have any side entrances to the track, which would allow a Safety Marshall to quickly move the damaged car away from the track. Therefore, it was felt that a crash in this specific position would be nearly certain to cause an obstruction on the track which would thus necessitate the deployment of a safety car in order to allow the track to be cleared and to ensure the safe continuation of the race.

10. Mr. Symonds also told me which exact lap to cause the incident upon, so that a strategy could deployed for my team-mate Mr. Fernando Alonso to refuel at the pit shortly before the deployment of the safety car, which he indeed did during lap twelve. The key to this strategy resided in the fact that the near-knowledge that the safety car would be deployed in lap thirteen/fourteen allowed the Team to start Mr. Alonso’s car with an aggressive fuel strategy using a light car containing enough fuel to arrive at lap twelve, but not much more. This would allow Mr. Alonso to overtake as many (heavier) cars as possible, knowing that those cars would have difficulty catching up with him later in the race due to the later deployment of the safety car. This strategy was successful and Mr. Alonso won the 2008 Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore.

11. During these discussions, no mention was made of any concerns with respect to the security implications of this strategy, either for myself, the public or other drivers. The only comment made in this context was one by Mr. Pat Symonds who warned me to “be careful”, which I took to mean that I should not injure myself.

12. I intentionally caused the crash by letting go of control of the car just before the relevant corner. In order to make sure I would cause the incident during the correct lap, I asked my team several times via the radio to confirm the lap number, which I would not normally do. I was not injured during the accident, nor was anyone else.

13. After the discussions with Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds discussed above, the ‘accident strategy’ was never discussed again with either of them. Mr. Briatore discreetly said “thank you” after the end of the race, without mentioning anything further. I do not know if anyone else was aware of this strategy at the start of the race.

14. After the race I informed Mr. Felipe Vargas, a family friend and advisor, of the fact that the incident had been deliberate. Mr. Vargas further infirmed my father, Mr. Nelson Piquet, some time later.

15. After the race several journalists asked questions about the accident and asked me whether I had caused it on purpose, because they felt it was ’suspicious’.

16. In my own team, the engineer of my car questioned the nature of the incident because he found it unusual, and I replied that I had lost control of the car. I believe that a clever engineer would notice from the car’s telemetry that I caused the incident on purpose as I continued accelerating , whereas a “normal” reaction would be to brake as soon as possible.

Statement of Truth

I believe and swear that the facts set out in this statement are true.

This statement was made at the FIA Headquarters in Paris on 30 July 2009 in presence of Mr. Alan Donnelly (FIA Chairman of the Stewards), Mr. Martin Smith and Mr. Jacob Marsh (both of investigations firm Quest, retained by the FIA to assist with its investigation). Notes were taken by Ms. Dondnique Costesec (Sidley Austin LLP).

Signed:

Nelson Piquet Jr.

[bud]

interesting

[texasmr2]

interesting

N/S !!!!

[scotty]

I asked my team several times via the radio to confirm the lap number, which I would not normally do.

Hmm. Surely the radio conversations are all recorded somewhere?

[Frosty]

I asked my team several times via the radio to confirm the lap number, which I would not normally do.

Hmm. Surely the radio conversations are all recorded somewhere?

They are.

[supeindesu]

And also the telemetry... This is going to be the most scientific probe that Nelsinho is just cr4p

[texasmr2]

Crap or not atleast he is not scared to expose Flavio for the sly, underhanded cheating turd he is or has become.

[Brandz]

it sounds very very convincing

[EwanM]

It's not looking good.

[vaptin]

forget shooting in the foot, piquets shot himself in the sodding mouth - it just depends on when he did it.

If he made it up - then hes a very serious liar, no one will trust him. And it shows up his temperent to (which was already known to be weak, even if not malicious.

If its true - then hes admitting he crashed on purpose, Why would anyteam want someone like that? Hell he only did it because he couldn't keep a place on merit.

[Brandz]

forget shooting in the foot, piquets shot himself in the sodding mouth - it just depends on when he did it.

If he made it up - then hes a very serious liar, no one will trust him. And it shows up his temperent to (which was already known to be weak, even if not malicious.

If its true - then hes admitting he crashed on purpose, Why would anyteam want someone like that? Hell he only did it because he couldn't keep a place on merit.

why would anyone want to drive for a team that asks you to crash?

[Scout]

forget shooting in the foot, piquets shot himself in the sodding mouth - it just depends on when he did it.

If he made it up - then hes a very serious liar, no one will trust him. And it shows up his temperent to (which was already known to be weak, even if not malicious.

If its true - then hes admitting he crashed on purpose, Why would anyteam want someone like that? Hell he only did it because he couldn't keep a place on merit.

His father, N. Piquet Sr., will buy him a team.