FIA Suspends Renault's F1 Disqualification For Two Years

WMSC Says Renault Has Agreed To Make Contribution To FIA's Motoring Safety Work

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) yesterday suspended F1 team Renault's disqualification from the sport "for two years, until the end of the 2011 Formula season," giving the team the "equivalent of a slap on the wrist ... for its involvement in a staged crash at the Singapore Grand Prix last year," according to Burns & Spurgeon of the N.Y. TIMES. The WMSC said it would only activate Renault's disqualification if the team is "found guilty of a comparable breach in this time." The WMSC added that Renault has "agreed to pay the costs of the FIA investigation and to make a 'significant contribution' to the FIA's motoring safety work." Burns & Spurgeon note the FIA in suspending the disqualification was "seeking to avoid losing one of its most important sponsors" in Renault (N.Y. TIMES, 9/22). In London, Ben Smith reports the WMSC also gave former Renault Managing Dir Flavio Briatore an "indefinite ban from FIA-sponsored motor sport," which means he "will not be able to continue managing racing drivers, among them four on the present Formula One grid." But a report in Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport indicated that Briatore is "considering legal action against the FIA and may set up a series to rival" F1. Briatore in the report said that he is "planning to sue the sport's governing body in the Paris courts to try to prove his innocence and win compensation for the damage to his image" (TIMESONLINE.co.uk, 9/22).

TOO BIG TO LOSE? In London, Edward Gorman reports the FIA and President Max Mosley were "accused of bowing to commercial pressures" with the light sentence. The ruling was attacked by those who believe that the FIA and Mosley are "far too close" to F1 Management Chair Bernie Ecclestone (LONDON TIMES, 9/22). Also in London, Kevin Garside notes the FIA acknowledged that the "severity of the crime was unprecedented yet found a way of not imposing a fine commensurate with it" (London TELEGRAPH, 9/22). Former FIA VP Nazir Hossein: "They've got away with it because Formula One can't afford to lose Renault." However, Ecclestone said, "That has nothing to do with it" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 9/22). 

BLOW TO SPORT: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Sebastian Moffett writes the disclosure that the Singapore Grand Prix "was rigged, and the light repercussions for the team, add to what has been a tumultuous season for racing's most glamorous international circuit." However, Renault yesterday "gave no indication" that it would leave the sport (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/22). In Toronto, Norris McDonald writes Renault "didn't so much as receive a slap on the wrist for creating a situation in which people -- the driver and others -- could have been killed." The "biggest loser in this is Briatore," but for F1, this is "a disaster." McDonald: "For the first time, allegations of race-fixing were investigated and found to be true. ... The question that must be asked today is -- after this -- what company or conglomerate would want to be associated with it?" (TORONTO STAR, 9/22).