Briatore lands blame in race-fixing row
RENAULT boss Patrick Pelata has heaped the blame on departed team chiefs Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds for the controversial race-fixing row.
The French-based team are appearing before the sport’s governing body, the FIA, in Paris on Monday after being accused of ordering former driver Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix in order to help team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.
Team boss Briatore and Symonds, the executive director of engineering, resigned after Renault opted not to contest the charges.
Renault hope the pair’s decision to quit will help safeguard the team’s future in the sport with an expulsion order among a list of sanctions which could be imposed by the FIA.
Indeed, speaking to a French radio station, Pelata, the team’s chief operating officer, openly admitted who he holds responsible for the debacle.
“Flavio Briatore considered he was morally responsible and resigned,” Pelata said. “We don’t want a fault by two people to reflect upon the whole company and the entire Formula One team.
“I don’t know all the details but there was a fault and a fault requires a sanction. For the moment we have assumptions but it is clear that basically there was a fault.”
Briatore claimed yesterday he left to “save the team” but Pelata would not be drawn on the manufacturer’s continuing involvement in the sport and the possibility that they could walk away. “This is not the debate today. We will have it calmly,” he said. “Formula One is the world’s most-watched show and you have to respect that.”