Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

Renault gets easy ride

Renault gets easy ride

LONDON – British newspapers yesterday branded Renault’s punishment over the ‘crashgate’ affair lenient, and questioned whether commercial pressures played a part in the FIA’s decision.

Motor sport’s governing body, the FIA, on Monday handed the Renault Formula One team a suspended ban from the sport for ordering its driver Nelson Piquet junior to crash in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.Renault, who have been involved in F1 since 1977, were in the dock for conspiring with Piquet junior to cause a deliberate crash to help the Brazilian’s teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race.Team boss Flavio Briatore was slapped with an ‘unlimited’ ban from the sport while chief engineer Pat Symonds was suspended for five years.Under headlines such as ‘Great Escape’ and ‘Anger as Renault gets easy ride’, newspapers said the soft punishment for Renault may have aimed at convincing it to remain in the sport at a time when its commitment was unclear.’Certainly the expectation was that the team would escape a ban, but no one had foreseen quote how lenient the punishment would be,’ motor racing correspondent Tom Cary said in the Daily Telegraph.’Renault’s future in Formula One remains precarious and it is widely believed that the sentence may have been designed to help persuade the French manufacturer to stay in the sport,’ he said.The FIA was criticised for allowing the fear that Renault might leave to cloud its thinking when it handed the manufacturer the suspended ban after a hearing in Paris, according to The Times.The Guardian pointed to the fact that McLaren was fined a massive 100 million dollars (62 million pounds, 67 million euros) in 2007 and stripped of points for their role in obtaining confidential information from rival Ferrari in the ‘spygate’ scandal.The newspaper said however that McLaren suffered such a punishment largely because it refused to come clean over the affair.Flamboyant Italian Briatore and Symonds both quit Renault ahead of Monday’s FIA hearing. Piquet, as whistleblower, was given immunity by FIA for his part in the conspiracy.Renault’s ban is suspended until the end of the 2011 season and will only be activated if they are found guilty of a similar offence. – Nampa-AFP

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News