Renault Formula One crash controversy

The Renault Formula One crash controversy , dubbed as " Crashgate " by some in the media, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] was a sporting scandal caused when Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to give a sporting advantage to his Renault teammate, Fernando Alonso . [ 3 ]

On 28 September 2008, on the 15th lap of the Singapore race, which was close to the expected pit window for everyone's first stop, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet Jr. crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. Alonso had previously made an early pitstop, and was promoted to the race lead as other cars were running out of fuel and were forced to pit under safety car conditions, resulting in a penalty, or shortly after the safety car period, which pushed them...

After being dropped by the Renault team following the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix , Piquet Jr. alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, sparking an investigation of Renault F1 for race fixing by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), Formula One's governing body. After an investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy on 4 September, and were to answer the charge on 21 September 2009.

On 16 September, Renault stated that they would not contest the charges, and announced that the team's managing director, Flavio Briatore , and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds , had left the team.

Spanish racing driver Fernando Alonso had been involved in Formula One since 2001, and drove for the team from 2002 to 2006 . After becoming World Champion in 2005 and 2006 and a one-year stint with McLaren in 2007, he returned to the team in 2008. English engineer Pat Symonds had risen to his position as executive director of engineering with Renault F1 having worked for the Benetton team, and having entered Formula One with Benetton's predecessor Toleman Motosport in the early 1980s. Brazilian...

During the warm-up lap, Piquet Jr. spun at the exact corner where he would later crash out, but was in this instance able to continue. [ 19 ] After the race started, Alonso was the first driver to make a routine pit stop for fuel and tyres on lap 12, rejoining the race at the back of the field. [ 20 ] He had put in a light fuel load at the start of the race in an attempt to pass the cars in front of him; most drivers that qualify in low positions tend to do the opposite and go for heavier fuel l...

Safety car regulations in 2008 meant that the pit lane was closed until all cars had been bunched up behind the safety car. Hence the advantage of the lead cars would be eliminated before they were able to pit and after they did pit, they would re-enter the race at the back of the field. Alonso, having pitted just before the safety car was introduced, therefore gained a significant advantage. (Under previous regulations, the pit lane remained open during safety car incidents and the lead cars co...

Most of the leading cars ended up behind Alonso and also behind some slower drivers who proved difficult to pass on the narrow circuit; those ahead of Alonso were lighter on fuel and whilst they were able to pull away, they still needed to make a pit stop. After gaining the lead in the final third of the race, Alonso went on to win the race.

A first podium of the season and first victory as well and I am extremely happy. I cannot believe it right now, I think I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year. It seems impossible all through the season to be close to the top guys and here suddenly we have been competitive from Friday. Obviously we started at the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race.

— Fernando Alonso after the race, his first win of the year. [ 22 ]

Fernando Alonso ended the 2008 season fifth in the Drivers Championship with 61 points, while Nelson Piquet Jr. finished in twelfth place, with 19 points. Their collective total earned Renault F1 fourth place in the Constructors Championship. Despite rumours that he was set to leave the team, Renault re-signed Piquet Jr. on a one-year contract for the 2009 season , once again alongside Alonso. [ 25 ] By the tenth race of the 2009 season , Piquet Jr. had failed to score any points whereas Alonso ...

On 30 August 2009, during coverage of that year's Belgian Grand Prix, the Brazilian television station Rede Globo reported that Piquet Jr. had been ordered to crash during the Singapore race. [ 27 ] Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), immediately announced it was investigating "alleged incidents at a previous F1 event". [ 28 ] It was widely reported that the race in question was the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. [ 29 ]

On 10 September, Piquet Jr. made the second of two statements to the FIA. [ 31 ] On the same day, a transcript of Piquet's first statement to the FIA made at their headquarters in Paris on 30 July was published by F1SA.com (F1 Supporters Association). [ 32 ]

In response to questions over its authenticity, FIA president Max Mosley stated "I haven't seen anything which I believe to be a forgery." [ 33 ] In the transcript, Piquet Jr. states that he was asked by Briatore and Symonds to crash his car at a specific corner. [ 31 ] Alonso denied knowing of any plan to ask Piquet Jr. to crash, stating "I cannot imagine these things, these situations. It's something that never entered my mind." [ 34 ] Piquet Jr. questioned whether Alonso knew that a crash was...

On 11 September, Mosley confirmed that Piquet Jr. would face no action after making his two statements, even if the case was found in favour of Renault. [ 33 ]

On 14 September 2009, Symonds was also reported to have been offered immunity from action if he provided the FIA with details of the alleged conspiracy. [ 38 ] Symonds was reported to have told FIA investigators that the initial idea of a crash had come from Piquet Jr. [ 36 ]

It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.

The FIA confirmed that 21 September meeting would still go ahead following the departure of Briatore and Symonds, with sanctions against Renault F1 still possible. [ 40 ] The day after the Renault announcement, Renault confirmed Briatore had resigned from the team, while Briatore himself stated of his departure that "I was just trying to save the team. It's my duty. That's the reason I've finished." [ 42 ] [ 43 ]

The extraordinary meeting of the WMSC took place on 21 September 2009 in Paris. After a ninety-minute hearing, the council imposed a disqualification on Renault F1, suspended for two years. This meant that if a similar incident occurred before 2011, Renault F1 would be banned from Formula One. Briatore was banned indefinitely from any FIA-sanctioned event, while Symonds received a five-year ban. Furthermore, Briatore was indefinitely banned from managing drivers when the FIA stated that super li...

The WMSC came down hard on Briatore because he denied his involvement despite overwhelming evidence. Symonds, in contrast, had confessed, expressing his "eternal regret and shame" for his role in the scheme. [ 45 ] In announcing the sanctions, the council stated that Renault F1's actions were serious enough to merit being thrown out of Formula One altogether. However, it opted to impose a suspended sentence because Renault F1 took swift action in forcing Briatore and Symonds to resign. [ 44 ] Th...

A major contribution to the punishment of Briatore and Symonds was the testimony of an unnamed "Witness X", a Renault F1 employee who was also present at the pre-race meeting but rejected the idea. [ 47 ]

The scandal interrupted the team's parent company Renault S.A. 's launch of four electric vehicles at the Frankfurt Motor Show after journalists questioned Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn over the affair, who directed all inquiries to Bernard Rey, chairman of Renault F1. [ 48 ] On 17 September, Patrick Pelata , Renault S.A.'s chief operating officer , first representative from Renault to officially comment on the Singapore crash affair, stated that "The [Renault F1] team believes that a mis...

Former Jordan Grand Prix F1 team principal Eddie Jordan believed that the departure of Briatore and Symonds from Renault on 16 September was an effective admission of guilt. [ 40 ] Former three-time Formula One World Champion and former team owner Sir Jackie Stewart said of the Singapore scandal that "There is something fundamentally rotten and wrong at the heart of Formula One. Never in my experience has Formula One been in such a mood of self-destruction. Millions of fans are amazed, if not di...

Chief Sportswriter Simon Barnes of The Times , sparked debate over the incident when he labelled it "the worst single piece of cheating in the history of sport" primarily because of its "potentially lethal consequences" to Piquet Jr., the other drivers, marshals and spectators. [ 52 ] [ 53 ] Supporting Barnes, The Times' motor racing correspondent Edward Gorman cited the alleged top level pre-conceived elements of conspiracy that sought to sacrifice one team member to benefit another to put the ...

On 19 October 2009, Flavio Briatore announced his intentions to sue the FIA for his lifetime ban, claiming that "the FIA [had] been used as a tool of vengeance on behalf of one man" and that there were several miscarriages of justice, including a delay in summons, a failure to state the charges in advance and a lack of access to documents and "Witness X". [ 59 ] On 5 January 2010, the French Tribunal de Grande Instance overturned his ban, and awarded him €15,000 in compensation. [ 7 ] Symonds' b...

On 11 January 2010, the FIA announced that they would appeal the decision of the Tribunal de Grande Instance to overturn the bans imposed on Briatore and Symonds. The FIA reinstated the bans while the appeal was active, but stated that drivers managed by Briatore would be granted their super licences for 2010. [ 62 ] On 12 April, the FIA announced a settlement with Briatore and Symonds, and that the legal action had been ended. Both men agreed not to work in Formula One until 2013, nor any other...

On 7 December 2010 it was announced that Piquet Jr. and his father had won a libel case against Renault F1 at the High Court based on the allegations described above. Renault F1 apologised to the Piquets and paid them substantial damages. Admitting they libelled the duo, a Renault F1 statement read: "The team accepts, as it did before the World Motor Sport Council, that the allegations made by Nelson Piquet Junior were not false. As a result, these serious allegations contained in our press rele...

It was suggested in the media that if Briatore were personally found guilty of race-fixing, he might fail the English Football League 's fit-and-proper-person test which applies to football club owners and directors, whose regulations exclude people who are "subject to a ban from a sports governing body relating to the administration of their sport", though a BBC report opined that his position might be secure given that he had left Renault. [ 11 ] The Football League stated that they would wait...

Piquet Jr. was criticized by many in the community and some suggest that the controversy effectively ended his hopes of continuing in Formula One. Martin Brundle , at the time the BBC 's Formula One commentator, suggested that Piquet Jr. was now unemployable in Formula One, saying that no team or sponsor would want to be associated with the Piquet family. Brundle noted that Piquet Jr. "didn't deliver at Renault, he wasn't fast enough, that's why he was released and that's why he has dropped hand...

Following the scandal Piquet Jr. would join NASCAR in the United States, competing full time in the Camping World Truck Series from 2011 to 2012 and the Nationwide Series in 2013. Piquet Jr. also competed full-time in Global Rallycross for SH racing from 2014 to 2015. In 2014–2015, Piquet Jr. took part in the inaugural Formula E season with China Racing , eventually becoming Formula E's inaugural champion by a single point over Sébastien Buemi . He would continue to compete full time in Formula ...

Despite the scandal, Alonso's career is said to have been untarnished by it, despite being the primary beneficiary of the crash. [ 72 ] Following the accident he raced with Ferrari (2010-2014) and McLaren (2015-2018), then out of Formula One for two seasons before returning to race for Alpine from 2021 to 2022, and then for Aston Martin from 2023 onward. In 2014, Massa claimed that Alonso knew about the planned crash, despite being cleared by the FIA from such knowledge. [ 73 ]

From 2011 to 2013, Symonds returned to F1 as a technical consultant for Virgin Racing (which later became Marussia in 2012). [ 74 ] [ 75 ] [ 9 ] In 2013, he left the team to serve as chief technical officer of Williams from 2013 to 2016. [ 76 ] In March 2017 Symonds was hired as Formula One's chief technical officer, a position he would hold until May 2024 when he became the executive engineering consultant for the Andretti Cadillac F1 program. [ 77 ]

In 2022, Flavio Briatore returned to Formula One as an ambassador for the sport after more than a decade following Crashgate. [ 10 ] [ 78 ] [ 79 ] He returned to Team Enstone in 2024 as a special advisor, [ 6 ] and a year later, assumed the role of team principal. [ 80 ]

In a 2018 retrospective article the BBC argued that nothing changed in Formula One as a result of the scandal and nobody in the sport wants to talk about it. [ 72 ] In 2021 Motorsport.com listed the incident as one of biggest incidents of cheating in F1's history. [ 84 ]

Italics indicate factory team.