The Renault Formula One crash controversy is a sporting scandal surrounding the Renault F1 racing team from Formula One. It involves a deliberate crash by Nelson Piquet, Jr. during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in order to gain a sporting advantage for his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso.
On 28 September 2008, on the fourteenth lap of the Singapore race, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn seventeen. This threatened then safety of the other drivers. The other Renault driver, Fernando Alonso, subsequently went on to win the race. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake.
After being dropped by the Renault team, Piquet 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 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One governing body. After an investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy.
On 16 September Renault stated that they would not contest the charges, and announced that the team's managing directer, Flavio Briatore, and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, had left the team.
On 21 September it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, whilst Symonds received a five-year ban.
Although the crash was done with the intentions to help a fellow teammate, such selfishness could put other people's lives in danger. Such selfish acts diminishes the value of sportmanship in F1 racing. Piquet breached the International Sporting Code, Article 151c, causingn a crash to the team's advantage.
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