Renault won’t dispute race fixing allegations

16 Sep, 2009 13:21 / Updated 15 years ago

Renault’s Formula 1 team have announced that they will not dispute the race fixing charges leveled against them and that Managing Director Flavio Briatore and engineering chief executive Pat Symonds are leaving the team.

The two allegedly conspired with driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix.

The incident led to a red flag and safety car appearance on the track, which helped Renault’s Fernando Alonso finish the race in first position.

Piquet was offered a new contract in return, but was fired from the team recently, which made the newspaper suggest that he was the one who reported to the FIA, the F1 governing body, about the whole affair.

Renault’s move means Briatore and Symonds won’t testify at the hearing at FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on September 21.

The FIA have the power to exclude Renault from the F1 championship.

Flavio Briatore spent eight years with Renault. Before that he worked with Benetton’s F1 team for nine years.

His drivers won the championship four times and triumphed in the teams’ competition three times.