4000 parts, 21 hours and 45 minutes

This was a very cool part of the 2009 Petit Lemans broadcast, I'm so happy a clip popped up online. It's a time lapse of the team at Highcroft rebuilding the Patron Acura LMP1 car overnight. The original Acura ARX-02a had been destroyed the day before when Scott Sharp tagged a GT2 Porsche during practice.

All of this even more impressive if you consider that amid the chaos of having to go through this epic rebuild someone had the thought to set up and execute the filming of this clip!

After the jump, the clip of Scott Sharp's horrifying crash and the press release from Highcroft regarding the rebuild process.







BRASELTON, GA, Saturday, September 26, 2009: Patrón Highcroft Racing's won their "race" to make the grid and maintain the team's championship assault after taking a bare tub into a complete racecar in less than 24 hours today.

After a horrifying crash for Scott Sharp on Thursday, the tub of the team's Acura ARX-02a was badly damaged and Honda Performance Development flew out a replacement overnight from its headquarters in California.

Beginning the build at 8:00am on Friday morning preparing parts, the Patrón Highcroft squad kicked off when the tub arrived at 9:20am and worked throughout the night to build up a new machine for today's 12th running of the annual Petit Le Mans endurance classic.

The car was ready to roll at 5:45am the following morning - in time for the team to take part in the morning warm-up. Heavy rain overnight actually pushed the warm-up back - allowing the team to take a breath before beginning race day.

After starting from the pit lane, the #9 Acura has quickly moved through the field to be in 7th position after 45 minutes with David Brabham at the wheel.

Brabham will be joined by Scott Sharp and Dario Franchitti for today's 10 hour, 1000 mile classic. The team needs to ensure it completes 70 percent of today's race to gain a points haul to add to its 17 point advantage in the LMP1 championship.

DUNCAN DAYTON
"I couldn't be more proud of the guys. They have just done an amazing job. We faced a similar task last season but this year's Acura is significantly more advanced and it a much more high-tech car.
"The tremendous teamwork is just incredible. Everyone has just put their head down, worked together as a team and made it happen. After the crash on Thursday nobody else thought that this would be possible but our guys just never give up.
"I am really thankful for all the offers of support from our fellow Acura teams, other rivals and local suppliers - we are incredibly grateful.
"Our guys have their eye on the championship and they are not going to let a crash get in the way of that."

BUILD RECAP

Pre-petit work list items: 190

Acura ARX-02a Statistics:
Chassis mechanical parts: 4000
Chassis electrical parts: 250
Engine parts: 100 (excluding internals of engine)
Gearbox parts: 350
Parts with tracked life: 1000 (excluding internals of engine)
Custom hardware (fasteners, o-rings, bearings): 450

Rebuild Statistics:
Parts reused: about 10%

Rebuild Timeline
(times are when tasks were completed, unless otherwise noted)
Thursday
3:43 PM - Accident
4:15 PM - Damaged assessment finished
4:45 PM - Spare part serial numbers allocated for car build
5:00 PM - Finalized arrangements to ship spare tub
6:00 PM - Spare tub picked up by freight service in California
6:45 PM - Damaged car stripped, reusable parts identified
11:00 PM - Replacement parts prepared and arranged for assembly
12:00 AM - Team back to hotel

Friday
7:10 AM - Spare tub arrives at Atlanta airport, met by team members
7:30 AM - Breakfast
8:00 AM - Begin preparation for car build, organize and layout assemblies
9:30 AM - Spare, bare tub arrives at track
11:00 AM - Tub preparation finished
12:00 PM - Lunch
11:30 PM - Fresh engine fitted
1:30 PM - Fresh gearbox fitted
6:00 PM - Dinner
8:00 PM - Four corners fitted on car
9:00 PM - Race spare preparation begins
11:45 PM - Hydraulic/fuel/electronic systems tested

Saturday
1:00 AM - Engine fired
4:30 AM - Car on ground
5:45 AM - Set up finished
6:45 AM - Race strategy meeting
8:15 AM - Warmup / Practice Session

Crash Statistics:
Just before impact:
Speed: 225 kph (140 mph)
Throttle: 100% (Full)
Lateral acceleration: 1.5g
Gear: 6th (Top gear)
Location: Before turn 2

During collision:
Car did a full rotation every 1.3 seconds
Peak acceleration > 15g
From impact to stop: 6.2 seconds

Source : Patron Highcroft Racing
GrandTouringPrototype.com

Official: Alonso at Ferrari for three years

Press Release

Maranello, 30th September 2009 - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro announces that it has reached an agreement with the driver Fernando Alonso. The agreement covers three racing seasons, starting in 2010.

The Scuderia’s driver line-up next season will therefore be made up of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the role of reserve driver.

Kimi Raikkonen will leave the team at the end of this current season, after what has been a rewarding and fruitful partnership, which saw him win the Drivers’ title in 2007. He also played a key role in Ferrari’s taking of the Constructor’s title that same year and in 2008.

“We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two World Championships in his career to date,” said Stefano Domenicali. “Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari: in his first year with us, he managed to win the Drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the Constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008. Even during a difficult season like this one, he has demonstrated his great talent, with several good results, including a great win in Spa and we are sure that we can share more good times together in the final three races of this season.”

“With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule,” said Kimi Raikkonen. “I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races. Together, we have won 50% of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the Drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career. I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team.”

(Ferrari S.p.A.)



Interesting they would put Massa's name first I thought. Raikkonenen's statement is curious as well. I guess, officially, he's not happy to go?

What will change with Alonso

I could not agree more with this piece by Giorgio Terruzzi assessing the impact of Alonso's arrival at Maranello, I'll just translate it:

In a few hours, before the start of the Japanese week end, Ferrari will announce Alonso's signing. This is great news, even if it is hardly a surprise.

Great news why? Because Alonso has personality and character ( something not shared by Raikkonen and Massa, though for different reasons and in different measures), because he has a strong work ethic and he provides a gratifying level of results for those he works with.

In other words, it is up to him to pick up the unclaimed inheritance of Michael Schumacher. That is he need to re-establish that connection with a team that needs more certain, concrete and consistent feedback from the a driver who is a leader. For the immediate and the long term future.

This will not mean that problems (at Ferrari) will disappear. On the contrary. Alonso comes from three very complicated seasons. The one with Mclaren in the year of the "Spy Story" and Hamilton; the two with Renault a team on a downward phase. He has the desire to return to the top but he still has to demonstrate he knows how to manage difficult situations like the one he will find himself in in a few months.

Today's Ferrari is not the Ferrari of Schumacher. The technical staff is in a difficult turnover phase, available funds are not seemingly unlimited anymore. Alonso will be able to rely on a partner who is well prepared, transparent and rigorous in Domenicali (and he won't have Todt, thankfully for those who really love Ferrari) but he will also face a long rebuilding phase that will severely test the strength of his shoulders. We'll see.

Certainly Alonso opens a new chapter, an important gamble for the whole staff around him and there is good reason to be optimistic for the future. That's a change from the current situation. It is on his work ethic on and off the track that one can measure Raikkonen's failure. A failure the has allowed Massa to play a role (with honor, in comparison) that was not entirely his.

Signs that this is on track comes from word Alonso has presented Ferrari with a shopping list of his favorite technical personnel from around the paddock. Very Schumacher-eque!

It's hard work but someone has to do it

It's hard work filming those beautifully photographed segments on Top Gear and finding good locations must not be easy. Capt. Slow, Hamster and the skinny guy with the big belly are filming for the upcoming season in Romania, where helicopters come at a discount and ridiculously awesome ribbons of road like this one can be at your disposal.

BTW, which car would you pick?


(YT tip Debi)
More clips after the jump.

That's not a close call, THIS is a close call....

How does this happen? You are racing along and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a car comes at you going in the opposite direction in reverse...A true WTF? moment.

Check out how this, one of the most amazing close calls of all time, went down after the jump!

Amazing. Cameron McConville's Holden Commodore had a brake line severed in the first shunt with Steve Owen. Amazingly there is no barrier at the end of the gravel trap, just a straight shot out to the racing circuit as it folds around.

Sure enough the car just sails over the gravel trap, onto the grass, across the tarmac and finally comes to rest on the far side, narrowly missing a terrifying crash with David Besnard's car. I'm sure both Mr Besnard and Mr. McConville needed a change of undies after that one. Philip Island circuit safety designer instead could use a spanking!.

Singapore GP: big mistakes and one surprise

All lit up, Singapore may look good on TV but, like Monaco minus the tradition, it's a horrible place to hold a modern Formula 1 race. On a street circuit where most corners are 2nd gear you have to wonder if the reason nobody bothered to clean the track was in the hope more cars would crash and give the race some excitement. That plan did not work, there were some incidents, but one was caused by brake failure and the other by brain failure...

More after the jump

Hamilton had a relatively easy time from the front, his race having effectively being won on Saturday when Rubens Barrichello made a mistake and tagged the wall in the crucial last minutes of qualifying. This placed the heavier fueled Mclaren ahead of the lighter Vettel and Rosberg, both on fliers when the session was stopped.

All irrelevant though, in the race Hamilton made no mistakes. Vettel and Rosberg made dumb ones and threw away their podium spots. That Rosberg, with one of the fastest cars of the field, was so hopelessly stuck behind the likes of Trulli after serving his penalty was clear indication of how hopeless the Singapore track is.

Barrichello made a mistake on Sunday as well when he stalled during his second pit stop and allowed Button to pass him. Now, rather than closing the gap to Jenson Button, the Brazilian lost ground. With 30 points still in play and a 15 point lead Button can afford to keep coasting, Prost like, to his championship.

I think the Sutil move should be commented by Paul Tracy...

For me the most entertainin part of the week end was the podium press conference. Fernando Alonso literally stunned the whole of the F1 press into silence by dedicating his result to "Flavio watching at home". Dependent on the FIA for their access most new sites did not know how to comment last night. This morning the party line is along the lines of "Oh that means he's going to Ferrari"...you don't say.

Aside from the stunning news the FIA did not manage to cancel Flavio's Formula 1 pay-per-view subscription, that was as big a public razberry to Max Mosley as I've ever seen and good show of Alonso's character. He and Mark Webber proved to be real men, not tempted to feign moral outrage. Don't be afraid Mosley is going to revoke your superlicence, Alonso is saying, just imagine him in the nude sipping tea with the hookers. In a sport where a team is deemed "too big to fail", Alonso just asked the FIA to try him. Let's see your moral outrage now!

Fernando is right of course, he thanked the team and he thanked Briatore who is the reason Renault is and, paradoxically now, will stay in F1. Briatore is also responsible for the deals that brought Alonso to Ferrari and likey, Kubica to Renault, all good things for Formula 1.

On a final aside, maybe our UK readers can clear up the cultural differences but, here in the US referring to Lewis Hamilton as "the boy", as this article in the Times does, would have some unpleasant connotations...

Axis of Singapore

Odd qualifying session and I'm sure that no matter what happens tomorrow people will inevitably feel someone put it in the wall intentionally!

I mean, Rubens was comfortably ahead of Button so, of course he simulated a crash....right? It has to be the case....

I kid, Rubens just locked up, turned in late, ended up in the dust and understeered into the wall. Brawns aside, we saw much more oversteer than understeer on track.

Speaking of oversteer, Alonso made me smile: so much of the talk in the Piquet affair, repeated all over the internet and brought up at the sentencing cabal, was based on his telemetry that showed how Piquet buried the throttle once he started getting wheelspin, supposedly proof definite of his intentions. Alonso was doing just that all day, on every turn, check put the very start of the clip below, enjoy it.

Tomorrow should be interesting.

Speed missed Ruben's crash, check after the jump if you want to see it and read the qualifying results.








Barrichello had to change his gearbox so he will have a 5 place grid penalty and start 10th

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:46.977  1:46.657  1:47.891
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.541  1:46.362  1:48.204
3.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.390  1:46.197  1:48.348
4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.646  1:46.328  1:48.722
5.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:47.397  1:46.787  1:48.828
6.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:47.757  1:46.767  1:49.054
7.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:47.770  1:46.707  1:49.180
8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.347  1:46.832  1:49.307
9.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.615  1:46.813  1:49.514
10.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.542  1:46.842  1:49.778
11.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.637  1:47.013
12.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:47.180  1:47.141
13.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:47.293  1:47.177
14.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.677  1:47.369
15.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:47.690  1:47.413
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:48.231
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:48.340
18.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:48.350
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:48.544
20.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:48.792

All Timing Unofficial

Petit LeMans Live Qualifying!

YOu can check out the Live Timing from the race HERE

And don't miss the live onboard cameras from the race HERE
Qualifying is now over, tune in tomorrow morning at 11 AM Eastern time to Speed TV for the start.
In qualifying the surprise is the Ford GT40 on pole for GT2 but the whole field is realy close, so it should be a good race.

Pos  Drivers                       Cl   Car             Time
1.  Minassian/Lamy                P1   Peugeot         1m06.937s
2.  Sarrazin/Montagny             P1   Peugeot         1m07.160s
3.  Capello/McNish                P1   Audi            1m08.200s
4.  Luhr/Werner                   P1   Audi            1m08.228s
5.  De Ferran/Pagenaud/Dixon      P1   Acura           1m08.348s
6.  Panis/Lapierre/Dumas          P1   ORECA           1m09.566s
7.  Field/Field                   P1   Lola            1m09.685s
8.  Leitzinger/Franchitti/Devlin  P2   Lola-Mazda      1m10.152s
9.  Drayson/Cocker/Bell           P1   Lola            1m10.552s
10.  Pickett/Graf/Maassen          P2   Porsche         1m11.405s
11.  Fernandez/Diaz                P2   Acura           1m11.758s
12.  Burgess/McMurry/Willman       P1   Lola            1m12.676s
13.  Murry/Robertson/Robertson     GT2  Doran Ford      1m20.819s
14.  Sutherland/Drissi/Bell        GT2  Riley Corvette  1m20.877s
15.  Beretta/Gavin/Fassler         GT2  Corvette        1m20.912s
16.  Muller/Milner/Muller          GT2  BMW             1m20.981s
17.  Hand/Auberlen/Priaulx         GT2  BMW             1m21.219s
18.  Bergmeister/Long/Lieb         GT2  Porsche         1m21.299s
19.  Magnussen/O'Connell/Garcia    GT2  Corvette        1m21.491s
20.  Farnbacher/James              GT2  Panoz           1m21.648s
21.  Henzler/Werner                GT2  Porsche         1m21.760s
22.  Melo/Kaffer/Salo              GT2  Ferrari         1m22.718s
23.  Sellers/Cicero                GT2  Porsche         1m23.081s
24.  Feinberg/Hall                 GT2  Dodge           1m23.121s
25.  Law/van Overbeek/Neiman       GT2  Porsche         1m25.601s

home

Multitasking

Formula 1 is kind of in the crapper right now but lets give a shout out to the drivers.

I love digging through clips for little moments like this: Free practice 1, Rubens Barrichello has a glitch with his gearbox. Take a look at how many buttons he has to press to work through the problem. He also has to keep the car on the track, drive at a sufficient pace, look in his mirrors.

And that does not even include thinking about Formula 1 politics, Flavio in a tanga, next year's contract and any possible plots against you by your team mate!

And here is the rest of it.

Drivers react to the Renault-Piquet affair.

Robert Kubica: "In the end the truly guilty got away with it"

Giancarlo Fisichella: " Immunity for Piquet was not right and the penalty for Briatore excessive"

Jarno Trulli: "Briatore knows little or nothing about strategy, it's weird that he would be the one who paid the highest price"

Mark Webber: "I'm saddened because I cannot imagine another manager I would be as comfortable with"

More supportive of Piquet was Nico Rosberg " In the end Piquet helped the FIA to get rid of people who should not have been in Formula 1."

Kimi Raikkonen, about Piquet: "it's hard to come back after something like that" and about Briatore: "That's the price you pay when you do these things"

Fernando Alonso, not surprising, "It's time to put the scandal behind us"

Oh yeah and Kimi keeps repeating he has a Ferrari contract for 2010 but he also apparently has a Mclaren one in his back pocket.

And more rumors.... USF1 project in trouble, they are looking for Toyota engines which means Kazuki Nakajima....

(mediaset)

Rye NY, Sept 24 2009, by AC

More pictures after the jump

Does Ari Vatanen have the stones to lead the FIA?

You tell me after watching this clip.



Of course there is one job where you have to be even crazier braver and that is navigator...



Speaking of Jean Todt, I had to chuckle at today's "endorsment" by Max Mosley"

"Jean will do a much better job than me in many, many ways," said Mosley, who has publicly endorsed Todt's bid to become president. "And in some ways he will upset the F1 teams less because he probably won't come up with the next big idea."





More Rally on Axis

Listen to the FIA World Council Meeting recordings

Fascinating stuff if you have 77 minutes to give up...

Or maybe you prefer to load it on your iPod<--option/right Click

And the conclusions/sentence

Download



Home

Don't tell my mother I work at the FIA...

...she thinks I play piano in a bordello.

The latest FIA verdict has succeeded in the seemingly impossible, turning public opinion even more against the FIA and Formula 1. The only thing the Piquet-Renault verdict put in the open is the desperate need for motor racing to have the courage to not just, as Ari Vatanen has advocated, "open the windows and let fresh air in" but rather seal the FIA's windows and fumigate the place.

Here are, to paraphrase the immortal words of Donald Rumsfeld, some "Guessable Unknowns":

Why was Renault allowed to make an undisclosed but "significant contribution to the FIA's road safety campaign" yet allowed to keep the money derived from the points gained in Singapore and the subsequent 4th place in the championship?

CG might confirm but I'm guessing fines and "contributions" get reported in different ways on financial ledgers...

Where is the proof against Briatore? all we have seen is a leaked document which contained no actual proof at all. Proof surely exists, why not release it?

By not releasing evidence the FIA can shield itself from any legal recourse from Briatore, Renault effectively accused Briatore, technically the FIA merely reacted to Renault's admission of guilt on Briatore's behalf.

UPDATE: the Witness X factor, again, the FIA states it was Renault who found him, name is not given....

Why did the FIA leak the dossier to the press?

Curiously ahead of the verdict Mosley declared "there is no way to find out who leaked it"....right, see above.

Members of the World Council have admitted not reading the incriminating evidence ahead of Monday's tribunal yet the hearing took only a couple of hours...

there is an election in a month, you want FIA council member to start making waves now?

If the FIA had known about this incident for a year, why wait until now?

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Briatore is many things but he's a clever man, why would he fire Piquet as he did if he knew they shared a similar secret?

we'll have to wait for either the lawsuit or the book...

And now the "Unguessable Unknowns":

-Why did Ecclestone "turn" on his frienemy Flavio?

-How is it possible for Nelson Piquet Jr. to escape this affair without even a reprimand and now attempt to portray himself as the victim?

-How is it possible nobody else in the Renault squad knew?

-Briatore is famously ignorant of F1 specifics, technical or strategic, yet now we are expected to believe he was the originator of this "brilliant" evil plan?


Why was this "intentional crash" so much worse that any number of other similar ones?

Piquet's audition for is upcoming stuntman career was certainly not the first intentional crash in F1: Shumacher in Monaco, Schumacher in Jerez....even Schumacher in Adelaide. And what about Prost in Japan and the following year, probably the most egregious intentional crash of all, Senna attempted murder of the Frenchman.... Put down to individual action of course, nobody ever heard of a formula 1 team cheating to win, right?

Your comments have been great of late...don't be shy!







And here is the rest of it.

The FIA mind at work...

Perhaps unnoticed because of the Piquet crash sentence, today saw this gem released by the FIA ...

Engine Performance

Following suggestions that there is a differential between the performance of engines used in Formula One, the World Motor Sport Council has decided that should this be the case, and should the teams wish to eliminate this performance differential, they may be allowed to do so by reducing the performance of the more powerful engines. However, no engine upgrades will be allowed.

It's related to the supposed power advantage in the Mercedes engines but this is precisely why people think the FIA is run by aliens.




And here is the rest of it.

RENAULT Banned for two years, Briatore Banned for life

Renault's penalty is suspended. So they can race with the penalty hanging over their heads... Symonds gets a five year ban.
Briatore cannot have anything to do with F1 the FIA including management. This will make the driver's market quite interesting.

Renault got off scot free because the only way the sentence would take effect is if they commit a similar offense which, you would all agree, is extremely unlikely.

Piquet, who was a co-conspirator, gets off scot free though I cannot imagine any team wanting to hire this guy ever again.

As regards Mr. Briatore, the World Motor Sport Council declares that, for an unlimited period, the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever. It also hereby instructs all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Briatore access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, it does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore. In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.

FIA Press release HERE

(Piquet's picture via red-bulldog.com)



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Bavarian Concerto M88, second movement, andante moderato.

A very nice in car High Definition camera setup in this BMW M1 Procar. I recommend turning up the volume and hitting the "full screen" button on the lower right.

The M88 still produces one of the best engine notes ever, even when not pushed to the max. It just never gets old.

(HD onboard cameras by DriveData)



More Bavarian Symphonies on Axis HERE and HERE

Ferrari 308 GTB Rally car?

Hmm...For that matter a BMW M1 rally car?? They tried everything back in the group B days! Jean-Claude Andruet, driver of the Pioneer Ferrari you see here, managed a second place in the 1982 European Rally driver's championship.







More Rally on Axis of Oversteer

Bernie said : "Screw Him"

As we wait for Monday's decision with regards to the Piquet-Renault case, I would suggest the larger scandal is how Formula 1 has dealt with this issue so far, it has been a trial by media, using leaked information with the end results that, unless there is a videotape of Briatore propositioning Piquet Jr. we will never really learn the truth behind this affair. Why Renault, why Briatore, why now?

"I asked him, what should I do? Bernie answered, 'screw him"

This again is a mysteriously out in the public domain declaration of Nelson Piquet Sr to the investigative agency Quest, in charge of gathering the facts of the inquest.

Piquet Sr., according to the revelations in today's Corriere della Sera, brought his accusations against Renault and Briatore to FIA chief steward Charlie Whiting's attention before last year's Brazilian GP. "It cannot be proved" was the official's response.

Piquet then kept quiet up until just before the Hungarian GP, Nelson's Jr's last race before he was sacked, when papa Piquet testified he has his exchange with Ecclestone and told him the the crashgate story.

Ecclestone's answer? " Charlie already told me the whole story but we cannot prove anything unless someone comes out and testifies"

So the FIA and FOM knew about the allegations of the case but did nothing for almost a year? nice. If you take it to the dramatic extreme that would make Ecclestone, and Whiting perhaps, co-conspirators?

And if Briatore was being blackmailed by the Piquets why did he cut Nelson's salary by half a million dollars and add a "non performance" clause? Surely Briatore had been in F1 long enough to know he had a vulnerability. Not to mention that cutting Nelson's salary would mean less pocket change for himself as his manager.

Or did Briatore have assurances the FIA would not pursue the matter?

This summer Renault was nearly given a two race ban for the lost wheel incident in, imagine that, Hungary. The ban was overturned at a meeting where the FIA stewards did not even show up. Brawn GP was not given any penalty for a spring falling out of their car and nearly killing Felipe Massa. Why is that?

So again why Renault and why now. As we said before and continue to maintain, the leaked dossier's information, especially the radio transcriptions prove absolutely nothing, in fact could be readily interpreted as showing Piquet wrong.

The only facts we know for sure is that Renault was put in a situation where they know they had already been convicted in the court of public opinion and that they had no hope to get a fair hearing in the court of king Max and decided it better bend over and plead for mercy. Another FOTA member bites the dust.





And here is the rest of it.

Win a chance to drive a Williams F1 car!

I really want an Axis reader to win this! This is one fantastic online competition from Philips and Williams F1:

The Prize, a couple of days at the Philips Driving Academy driving Caterhams, Palmers and Formula Jaguars.

If you cut it then you get to drive five laps in a Williams F1 car. Let's see you make fun of Kazuki Nakajima after that! (did I mention this would be in November...in the UK?)

Enter the competition and read all the details HERE

And here is the rest of it.

Renault throws Briatore under the bus

In an apparent deal between the FIA and Renault ahead of their world council meeting, Briatore and chief engineer Pay Symonds have ''left'' the team.

Statement from Renault:

"The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

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

Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment."

There better be crushing evidence beyond the inconclusive dossier "leaked" least week because this smells of political persecution.

The Axis view? Take a look at the difference between Lewis Hamilton's last good Lesmo and the lap where he crashed. Doesn't take much does it? If a World Champion can make a mistake what's more likely, that Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed the car or that he, as he did many times, just ran out of talent?

Renault was born out of Benetton which was born from Briatore. This is as big a deal as Ron Dennis leaving F1 and perhaps the latest scalp on Max Mosley's wall.

And Piquet? if this is all true, a driver who endangered other drivers, marshals and potentially spectators just because that was the only way he could secure a drive? A minimum of a lifetime ban from racing would be a mild punishment.

UPDATE!: Corriere Della Sera reports that taking over from Briatore at Renault will be Federic Vasseur, up to now team boss at GP2's ART. Anyone want to guess who else is a principal at ART?.... Let me help: Nicholas Todt, son of Mosley's own designated replacement in the upcoming FIA elections, Jean Todt. Pass the stinking bishop.




And here is the rest of it.

2010 Porsche GT3 RS, ride along at ''only'' 181 mph.

This video just surfaced on the YouTube account used by the now defunct Driver's Republic. Maybe they are not really dead, whatever, thanks for the peek!

This is the video's description:

"Manager of High Performance Cars for Porsche, Andreas Preuninger, provides the opportunity to ride shotgun as he took the first produced 2010 Porsche GT3 RS out for a ride on the Autobahn yesterday evening. Due to traffic, he was only able to get the car up to 292kph on the unrestricted A5 Autobahn.

The second half of the video, Andreas tells us what went into the development process for the new GT3 RS and what the car is capable of doing with the new technology and performance upgrades from the previous generation."






And here is the rest of it.

Sauber Crime Solved!

"Sauber Crime" is how Swiss newspapers have been referring to BMW sudden and never properly explained dumping of it Formula 1 program and the 400 some employees in Hinwil.

Today Sauber announced it had found backing from Swiss based Qudbak Investments Ltd. and the sale contract signed by BMW.

It is now up to the other teams to agree to expand the field to 28 cars/14 teams. The last official entry was just announced, a new team Lotus with backing from the Malaysian government and Air Asia and run by ex-RedBull and Ferrari PR person Dany Bahar and with Mike Gascoyne .

No word yet as to the futures of Mario Theissen and Peter Sauber or the full details of the deal with BMW The deal is reported to be for around 80 million Euros, the cars would run Ferrari engines and transmissions (Ferrari must have called on some of its Middle Eastern friends, Qudbak represents M.E. and Swiss investors). Hilwil has a full scale wind tunnel which can probably be worth the buying price alone.

More on Sauber

So who won at Monza?

Ross Brawn won it, from the pit wall. Sure, Barrichello drove very well, I just cannot get behind a guy who is all lovey dovey with his team when things go well yet is quick to throw hissy fits and "blah blah blah" when they don't go his way. I cannot get behind the guy who criticizes Renault's Briatore for questioning Piquet Jr's manhood but was all too happy to call Schumacher a fag in public.

Whatever, Rubens drove a mistake free race, he qualified one spot in front of Button and finished the same way, the first of the cars with the ''right''one stop strategy. Good for the Brazilian but I'm sure that if Button ends up winning the championship it will be Oliver Stone time again from Rubens.

Sebastian Vettel was pretty bad, his first lap was really pretty nasty stuff. Maybe he had really started to believe he was in the championship hunt and it got to him. Mark Webber could be the new David Coulthard.

Raikkonen for the first time I heard critical of Ferrari, in his mild mannered Finnish way. He drove as fast as it would go but was not too happy he could barely keep ahead of of the non KERS Force India. Adrian Sutil scored fast lap of the race, amazing. Fisichella meanwhile was perfectly happy not to be last and to have a job for next year.

Finally Hamilton: he tried, he was on the ''wrong'' 2 stop strategy but charged the whole race. He made one mistake in the wrong place and boom, from hero to zero. But at least he tried, he did not just settle for third and, according to people who were at the track, even Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali went to of his way to congratulate him after the race....(or maybe he was just thanking him for the extra points!)

I superimposed the relevant section of the lap before Hamilton's accident and the final lap. There is not much difference but then again, it does not take much. See if you can spot it and give us your theory as to what happened at Lesmo. Monday morning driving coaches welcome!



After the jump I have another special treat for our readers...




Here is the complete race from onboard cameras. Don't worry about the sound, it starts towards the end of the warm up lap. I always find the warm up lap fascinating from onboards:when drivers try to get temperature into their tires you really get the sense of how easy it is to make the cars understeer with low downforce and how little it takes to spin the rear wheels.

The different quality video is because not all car carry the new for this year HD cameras.

Road America, America's Northern Loop.

CG made the pilgrimage to Elkhart Lake for a Porsche Club of America club race at Road America. This is his epic writeup, a must read for any aspiring tracktard.

Road America, America's Northern Loop.
Very excited about my first time at Road America. Until now it has always been a myth only experienced through the races on TV. It is really BIG! Any other regular 1.5 - 3.0mi you can easily reach any point within 2mins in a sccoter. RA is the MidWest's version of the NuburgRing. Massive 4.1mi track that follows perfectly the contour of the terrain. The Paddock is the biggest I've ever seen. I was well advised to rent a Golf Kart. It takes almost 10mins at full speed to cover beginning to end of the Paddock only! Never seen so many Prosche race/track cars in my life. Easily 300 and most of them with big team trailers; and there was still plenty of room in the paddock.

The story continues after the jumps along with more pictures and videos...



Additionally, the town of Elkhart Lake is spectacular, both vintage and contemporary. Great historic racing bar at the Siebkins, beautiful landscapes over the lakes, nice resort lodging and some very good restaurants. Definitively worked for us as a great family vacation-race weekend. My kids only cared about the massive indoors water park at the Blue Harbor Resort on Lake Michigan!.

As I do every time I go to a new track, I've watched almost every relevant Vimeo or Youtube in-car video I found to get a good sense of the track and to my surprise on Test and Tune day the track is relatively easy to learn and be fast in a short time (contrary to scary blind corner places like Mosport).

Spencer Cox couldn't go to the race so I wasn't given the quick ride that's the most helpful for me to learn what speeds are possible through every corner. I compared my first session telemetry (with lap times roughly on pace for the class as per last year's mylaps results) with Spencer's Cup Car telemetry, and found that I was doing OK in the slow corners but needed to pump up the "attachments" a bit more in the 2 fast corners/kinks.

As always, Farnbacher-Loles had perfectly executed on the logistics and the car was immaculate with the tires from the last NASA race, and two new sets ready for raceday (likely need only one but had 4 rear tires thanks to the NASA Hoosier contingency program). It was also great to have Kurt, the F-Loles ALMS crew chief, on board as he has his own very structured (I crave analysis and structure!) methods and made me try different stuff in the setup that ended up paying off. Initially I had the car relatively stiff, working great for the typical 80mph+ LRP. Mosport or WGI fast corners, but Road America is mostly 50-70mph apex corners with some exceptions. Additionally, watching the big ALMS boys qualify on SpeedTV showed the obvious approach "use as much of the track and beyond (as long as it paved)" for faster lap times. Big surprise then when I went a full car-width wide at T5 and almost lost my teeth and couldnt hold the steering wheel in hands; We needed to soften up the car. Softer front sway bar, less rebound and some bump adjustments and the car was a monster in the slow corners but required finesse and smoothness to allow it to take a controlled set on the faster stuff (T1, T7Kink, Carrousel, T11Kink and T14).

From there on I was always worried through the whole weekend about something breaking or coming loose from so much curb-riding. Thanks to the F-Loles guys for permanently complying with the every session inspections. Only the glovebox came off a couple of times.

Unfortunately, my class (H Stock) was unusually low on attendance, but the run group had some faster GT3-4R cars (fully mod, BIG wing P-Cars in slicks), I-J Stock cars (GT3s, 993 Turbo, modded Cayman) and GTC1-2 Cup Cars (964 and 993). Practice Day went smoothly and set up a decent time in Practice 3 that defines the Very important Qualifying session grid (10th out of 50). Had a lot "fun" in the Fun Race at the end of the day. I love starts and re-starts.. I sneaked by in the starts with "cold" tires and even lead the race by Lap 2, until the big boys tires came to temp and ended up 4th after 5 laps

Early change to sticker tires on race day. Clean laps, good weather and was able to set a fast lap of 2:31.6 in the Warm Up, which is the new H Stock class record. Came very happy into pits after 3 laps and ready for Qualifying. Qualifying was crowded and warmer, got in early a 2:32.0, and decided to save tires and car instead of fighting traffic trying to get some tenths off. Road America Tip: You will NEVER get your PB time if you encounter ANY traffic at Road America (any minor lift on the big straights or lack of 2mph out of a corner will kill your time).

We bled the tires a few pounds to compensate for the higher temp later in the day for the race, but that will prove to be not enough due to not having run long enough in Qualifying. I Qualfied 14th on grid first in my class in the middle of the faster GTR cars.



It was really a complicated Sprint race due to the mix up of cars with very different strengths. The Big Wing modded cars had great corner exit (race gearing, more HP) and where faster in the fast corners (downforce), but I killed them braking into the slower corners (Cayman is fast in - fast out) where downforce is low, and my top speed wasn't that bad thanks to better aero and less drag from the lack of Wing but I had a hard time holding the pace, specially in the back straight where they were faster through the T11 kink.

I had a good start and sneaked in as many positions I could in T1, T3 and T5 under braking and was running 9th ahead of where I should be. We screwed with the Tire pressures and didn't drop them enough for the warmer longer race session, so ended up fighting big oversteer after 8-9laps and lost 3 places in the last 3 laps (didn't want to be a jerk either and block them aggressively not being in the same class). I basically allowed them to run side by side into the corner if they held there under braking. On several occasions i was able to hold the outside line (curb and rumble strips included! Check the pcitures of T8 where I prevailed despite the massive outside line!) and hold the position but once the overheated tires are beyond their optimal pressure (4-5psi by the end of the race). I oversteered/drifted wildly ALL the way out into the rumble strips to hold on for position. At the end I had to give a 964 Cup the inside line on Canada Corner, but oversteered all my way beyond the rumble strips! (check part 2 of the Video). Gave the position one lap before the last. Finished 12th, 1st in Class and 1st Stock class car.

The Enduro Race day started great. It looked very promising for an overall win until I learnt the bumped I class into our Enduro and a new faster competitor that won his Sprint race in a 944Cup switched classes to run his fast I Class 996 in the Enduro. Wait and see what kind of times he pulls in Quali. Warm Up session objective was to make sure the tires were still up to their max pace. 3 laps, mission accomplished. Qualifying was rougher than expected. Despite having P1 on the grid and planning on having a 2nd and 3rd clean laps and be done; a good portion of the 944 grid decided to come out late and jump in just in front as I was crossing the finish line. Arrrggghhhh!!! Agony! 2-3 laps of frustration, whenever I thought I had 500-800yds of clean space ahead, it prooved not sufficient around this 4.1mi monster track. Calmed down and went into the pits to calibrate tire pressures and time the best exit possible. It worked. Got 2 clean laps and down almost to my PB with a 2:31.655 (check the video), good for P2. The I class 996, very well driven, qualified P1 with a 2:29.9 and he obviously chose the inside line for the start.

The 996 accelerated faster than I expected on race start and was easily 3 car lengths ahead by T1. He even made a mistake in T3 and ran wide of the apex but got on the gas soon and no chance to get close. Closed some distance on him braking into T5 and Canada corner and was on his bumper when we encountered a back marker. Never had a chance to even annoy him, but the good thing is that running those clean laps meant P3 was nowhere to be seen in my mirror after a few laps. In lap 7-8 encountered back marker 944 traffic and a oil smell appeared. I blamed the older cars and kept pushing. Temp was fine, top speeds felt the same so nothing to worry about until lap 10 when I got the meatball flag. Came into pits, Kurt checked the car; lots of oil between engine and gearbox and hopefully it is just the typical Porsche RMS failure.



After 5:30 hours of track time, the weekend was still a huge success despite my first DNF of the race season. Had lunch and proceeded to watch the Cup Car / Crazy-Fast car Enduro. Leader Quali times where in the 2:15-17 range. It is great to see 50+ 996 and 997 Cup Cars at the same time. Can't imagine why in the future I would want to race in any other series when there's so much competition in the Cup classes in PCA where usually you get 2-3 Pros thrown into the mix every race weekend. Had the chance to meet the night before the gentleman who was now leading the race in a 997 Cup only to learn that in lap 29 had a terrible accident with a backmarker, forcing the race to be stopped and both drivers airlifted to the hospital. The cars were in very bad shape but safety systems did their job and both drivers will recover in a few months from their several broken ribs. punctured lung and massive bruises. this ending really puts thing into perspective and reminds me of being very picky on the safety of my equipment, the race venue, the race organization and the other drivers.

5.1 G under braking

Think about that for a second as you watch the race today.... repeat 53 times

BBC pre-show feed is up here at the moment




More on BRAKES

Formula BMW Mayhem!

Good thing there was a yellow flag...






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Fisichella crashed in the final practice session...

Can this season have any more bizarre and ironic twists? Fisichella realizes his life long dream of driving a Ferrari by leaving a team, Force India that, for reasons apparently unknown to anyone, is suddenly the fastest in practice...and then he crashes two hours before qualifying! Luca Badoer must be cheering.
Qualifying should be interesting...

Looking at the q2-q3 deltas you can see the run for pole was just between Ferrari, Mclaren and Force India. The other guys just went for a heavier fuel load. Liuzzi did great.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:23.375  1:22.973  1:24.066
 2.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.576  1:23.070  1:24.261
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:23.349  1:23.426  1:24.523
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:23.515  1:23.528  1:24.845
 5.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.483  1:22.976  1:25.015
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.403  1:22.955  1:25.030
 7.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.578  1:23.207  1:25.043
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:23.708  1:23.497  1:25.072
 9.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.558  1:23.545  1:25.180
10.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.755  1:23.273  1:25.314
11.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.014  1:23.611
12.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:23.975  1:23.728
13.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.001  1:23.866
14.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:23.828  1:23.901
15.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.584  1:24.275
16.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:24.036
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.074
18.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.121
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.220
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.951
All Timing Unofficial

What Briatore really said about Piquet: a not so subtle hint.

What, English journos don't stick around to hear The Flav speak in his native language? They are missing half the fun!.

The inexplicably successful with supermodels Renault manager unloaded the following after announcing his lawsuit against the Piquets, translated from Italian:

"From Piquet, who has accused me in the media, I only asked for performance. There was even a clause in his contract. Truth is, he did not perform.
We tried in every way to make Nelsinho feel at ease, we did everything. We found a doctor that would speak to him about his fragility, I even read in the papers that he accused me of keeping a friend of his out of the paddock and called me his executioner.

I kept his friend away at the behest of his father, those two lived together and nobody understood what kind of relationship they had.

I even arranged for him to change apartments, I moved him to one in my building so I could keep an eye on him. These charges are gratuitous."
(mediaset.it)





And here is the rest of it.

It's Monza Time!

Fisichella is far from last and Renault is suing Piquet Sr. and Piquet Jr. for extortion....
Well Fisi was last in session 2 but, hey less than a 1/10th from Button!





And here is the rest of it.

The Big Leak...Piquet crash evidence revealed

Motives are always suspicious when documents are leaked, reading through this I will say one could very easily interpret everything quite differently. The telemetry "smoking gun" for example just seems meaningless without the context of previous laps. The bit about "he nailed the throttle after the spin started" is completely inconclusive to anyone who has seen, for example, a DTM car spinning with its tires lit up and smoking.

However, written like this it looks like Renault is toast and there's no doubting this is the last we should ever hear from Nelson Piquet Jr. as a race driver, ever. At least some good news.

Please have a read at what RACEFAX just blasted and post your thoughts: Download .pdf HERE or read after the jump.




A Fit of Piquet Proves to Be Far More Than That

In reaction to being fired by the Renault team, Nelson Piquet has admitted to the FIA that he intentionally crashed at Singapore last year, in a successful attempt to move teammate Fernando Alonso from a lowly grid position to victory. Worse, Piquet has charged that he was instructed to crash — and where and when — by the team’s Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds. The FIA has investigated, and its World Motors Sport Council will pass judgment on September 21st. We examine the evidence collected so far and the events.

During the Belgian Grand Prix, Brazil’s TV Globo broke the story that Renault driver Nelson Piquet had followed team orders by intentionally crashing early in last year’s Singapore race, to benefit teammate Fernando Alonso, who then won the race, the team’s first victory of the season.

It seemed only reasonable to conclude that either Piquet or his father was the source of the story. Young Piquet had just been released by Renault, and in reaction had, among other things, charged that Flavio Briatore had, in addition to being his team principal and his manager, become his “executioner.”

Unlike his father before him, Piquet had failed to impress, but charged that he’d been given inferior equipment and treatment compared to Alonso, and had been set up to fail.

Given the level of Piquet’s outrage, and the fact that his very public comments had probably burned his bridge to F1 for the future, it seemed he had nothing to lose by then charging that he’d been instructed to crash in Singapore, in order to force the introduction of the safety car to Alonso’s benefit.

In addition, we found it difficult to believe that a driver would take the chances inherent in any accident, and particularly on a concrete-lined street circuit. We also considered that, self-preservation aside, intentionally crashing would go against instinct and years of conditioning, and the reflexive actions to which they lead. On balance, the story seemed rather unlikely, and besides, it was just a story. After all these years, we’ve found that there’s plenty of time to get excited after rumor turns to fact, and that it often does not.

And then someone gifted us with the dossier which is the product of an FIA investigation into the matter. Collectively, it constitutes evidence and a prosecutor’s argument in a hearing to be conducted on September 21st by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.
(For clarity, in what follows, all references to ‘Piquet’ are to Nelson the younger, unless otherwise indicated.)

Piquet’s Allegations

While the Renault race-fixing story became public during the Belgian GP at the end of August, it had actually begun to unfold much earlier. On August 3rd, Piquet issued a statement confirming he’d been sacked by Renault, but he’d obviously known earlier. On July 26th, Piquet senior had informed the FIA that his son wanted
to make a statement regarding the Singapore Grand Prix incidents. Thus, five days before Piquet announced he’d been released, he provided the FIA with a signed statement in which he alleged

• he was asked by Briatore and team technical director Pat Symonds “to deliberately crash my car” in Singapore to benefit Alonso • Symonds, “in the presence of Mr. Briatore, asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice my race for the team by ‘causing a safety car’ “
• he “agreed to this proposal and caused my car to hit a wall and crash during lap 13/14 of the race;” • that after meeting with Briatore and Symonds, the latter “took me aside to a quiet corner and, using a map, pointed me to the exact corner of the track where I should crash,” because “it did not have any cranes that would allow a damaged car to be swiftly lifted off the track, nor did it have any side entrances to the track” which would allow a damaged car to be rolled off the track. Crashing where Symonds indicated “would thus necessitate the deployment of a safety car.”
• Symonds told Piquet that the strategy to be employed for Alonso, who would start 15th, would have him very light on fuel, and that Alonso would thus pit before the Piquet crash while others would not, allowing Alonso to gain track position
• he was in a “very fragile and emotional state of mind” because of “intense stress due to the fact that Mr. Briatore had refused” to tell him whether or not he would be retained in 2009, and “repeatedly put pressure on me” to prolong an option that precluded him talking to other teams
• that he agreed to crash because he thought it would help him keep his drive, though no promises were made • he repeatedly asked the team to confirm the lap he was on, “which I would not normally do”
• after the race, “Mr. Briatore discreetly said ‘thank you’ after the end of the race” but the deliberate crash was not discussed with him by anyone after the initial meeting and agreement.

On August 17th, Piquet provided the FIA with a supplemental statement, to summarize the points made in the course of a second interview held in London, during which he reviewed “preliminary telemetry data” which the FIA Technical Department had obtained from the Renault team.

In the statement, Piquet explained how he had crashed. “After ensuring I was on the designated lap of the race, I deliberately lost control of my car” on the exit to turn 17, the second part of a right-left chicane. “I did this by pressing hard and early on the throttle. As I felt the back end of the car drifting out, I continued to press hard on the throttle, in the knowledge that this would lead to my car making heavy contact with the concrete wall....”

Having reviewed the telemetry, Piquet stated that the data “clearly demonstrates that I pressed significantly harder and earlier on the throttle on the exit to turn 17 on the lap in question than on previous laps. Once the back end of the car had begun to drift out, the only way of recovering control of the car and avoiding contact...would have been to back off on the throttle. However, I did not back off the throttle to any material extent. Rather, I pressed hard on the throttle beyond the moment at which the back end started to drift out and, indeed, right up to and beyond the point of impact with the concrete wall. Again, the fact that I did not back off the throttle is apparent from the (standard data recorder) telemetry readings of the incident.”
In both statements, Piquet acknowledged that he had “a duty...to ensure the fairness and legitimacy” of the F1 championship.

The Inquiry in Belgium

From the outset, the FIA had involved the investigative firm Quest, and by the time of Piquet’s second statement, at least, had also involved the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP. Both companies had representatives present at Quest’s London offices when Piquet was interviewed, and again when the stewards of the Belgian GP (Lars Osterlind, Vassilis Despotopoulos and Yves Bacquelaine) were charged with investigating the Piquet allegations, and interviewing a number of people from the Renault team two week later. (Osterlind and Despotopoulos are members of the World Motor Sport Council, which will ultimately determine guilt of innocence.) In addition, Herbie Blash, the FIA observer was present in Belgium.

The inquiry was conducted over August 27th and 28th, and on the 28th, the stewards received a hard disc said to contain the team’s entire data file (except car data) from the Singapore Grand Prix. Briatore provided additional information and documents.

The stewards “were reminded” that, in 2008, deployment of the safety car resulted in the pits being closed until the field was aligned properly behind the safety car, and that over the 14 races preceding Singapore, Alonso and Piquet had respectively scored just 18 and 13 driver point, and Renault was tied for fourth place with Toyota in the constructors’ championship.
The stewards also had reference to video from the Singapore event, and to printouts from the Renault telemetry, provided by the FIA technical department. The stewards concluded that the telemetry supported Piquet’s version of what he had done to cause the accident. The FIA techies affirmed that his actions were “unusual for the particular situation.”

Also made available to the stewards was the telemetry printout from Alonso’s car, illustrating when he had also experienced wheelspin at turn 17 during the race. The data traces showed him easing off the throttle, the opposite of what Piquet had done on lap 14.
At the time of the Belgian interviews, the stewards did not have access to the transcript of the Renault radio transmissions (the FIA had not retained their recording), but the team subsequently provided the recording and the stewards reviewed them before making their report to the FIA.

Alonso was interviewed first, but merely confirmed that his reaction to wheelspin in turn 17 was conventional.
Next up was Symonds, and as the partial transcript in the stewards report showed, he proved notably shy in critical areas:

FIA adviser: (With respect to the Singapore meeting involving Briatore, Symonds and Piquet) In your own words, Mr. Symonds, what do you recall being said to Nelson Piquet Jr. at that meeting? This is shortly before the race.
Symonds: I don’t really remember
FIA adviser: You don’t remember?
Symonds: No
FIA adviser: Nelson Piquet Jr. says that he was asked by you to cause a deliberate crash. Is that true?
Symonds: Nelson had spoken to me the day before and suggested that. That’s all I’d really like to say.
FIA adviser: Mr. Symonds, were you aware that there was going to be a crash at Lap 14?
Symonds: I don’t want to answer that question. Later, there was this exchange.
FIA adviser: There is just one thing that I ought to ask you, and put it to you so you can think about it, at least. Mr. Piquet Jr. says that having had the initial meeting with you and Flavio Briatore, you then met with him individually with the map of the circuit. Do you remember that?
Symonds: I won’t answer. Rather not answer that. I don’t recall it, but it sounds like Nelson’s talked a lot more about it.
FIA adviser: Mr. Piquet Jr. also says that at that meeting, you pointed out a specific place on the circuit where he was to have the accident and said it was because it was the furthest away from any of the safety or lifting equipment, and gave the most likely chance of a safety car being deployed.
Symonds: I don’t...I don’t want to answer that question.
Still later, the questioning of Symonds concluded with the FIA adviser asking whether Symonds or Briatore had done most of the talking during the meeting involving them and Piquet.
FIA adviser: Because, just to be absolutely clear here, what Nelson Piquet Jr. has said is that at that meeting it was you that asked him to have the crash deliberately.

The FiA technical department provided the Belgian GP stewards with annotated telemetry traces from Piquet’s Singapore accident, and other data. Typical, and damning, is the section shown here. This shows Piquet’s use of throttle and wheelspin up to and through the accident. The throttle trace shows early application of full throttle on the exit of turn 17 to induce wheelspin, then a probably instinctive throttle lift in reaction to the induced power oversteer (at ‘A’), and finally an immediate return to full throttle to increase the oversteer to, through and beyond the point of impact (at ‘B’). Comparison traces from earlier laps show that Piquet indeed applied more throttle, and sooner, on exiting turn 17 to induce the spin.

Symonds: I can’t answer you.
FIA adviser: Can I say that if, Mr. Symonds, you’d been put in the position where you were made to ask Mr. Piquet Jr. to crash, it’s much better. It would be much better for you in the long term to tell these stewards, to hear that today.
Symonds: I fully understand that.
FIA adviser: Yes.
Symonds: I have no intention of lying to you. I have not lied to you, but I have reserved my position just a little.
FIA adviser: And you’re aware that the stewards may draw conclusions from your unwillingness to assist them in relation to what went on in that meeting?
Symonds: I would expect them to. I would absolutely expect that.
FIA adviser: I think I haven’t got any further questions.
Symonds was also questioned about the telemetry printout from Alonso’s wheelspin incident and from Piquet’s car, copies of which was shown to him.
FIA adviser: I think you’ll anticipate what I’m going to ask you here.
Symonds: I think I will.
FIA adviser: There’s quite.... There’s a more significant wheelspin recorded here (in Piquet’s traces than Alonso had experienced earlier in the race). You’ll see what has been marked by the (FIA) technical department as a rapid increase in throttle pedal (application).
Symonds: Mmm hmm.
FIA adviser: There, is on the throttle. There’s a slight releasing of the throttle as the wheels start to spin, but when the (wheel)spin is at its greatest, there appears to be a reapplication of the throttle at almost 100 percent.
Symonds: Yes.
FIA adviser: I put it to you, Mr. Symonds, that that’s a very unusual piece of telemetry that would suggest that this may have been a deliberate crash.
Symonds: I would agree it’s unusual. FIA adviser: Would it suggest to you a deliberate crash?
Symonds: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a deliberate crash, so I.... It’s very unusual data.
FIA adviser: Counter-intuitive for a driver to put his foot full on the throttle when he’s in a deep (wheel)spin like that, Mr. Symonds?
Symonds: It is. yes, when he has that much wheelspin, it’s counter-intuitive.

Largely on the basis of Symonds’ failure to answer key questions, the stewards concluded that the meeting in Briatore’s office took place, that a deliberate crash was discussed, and that afterward, Symonds had indicated to Piquet where to have his ‘accident’ in order to ensure that the safety car would be deployed. The stewards noted in their report that, “had there been no substance to the allegations made by (Piquet) and put to Mr. Symonds, it would have been straightforward for Mr. Symonds to deny them.”

When interviewed on the 27th, Symonds said he might have additional information for the stewards subsequently, including responses to the questions he’d declined to answer. Called in again the follow day, however, he again declined to answer the questions. He did add that Alonso had been pitted earlier than planned to avoid him losing time behind Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams.

Briatore didn’t arrive at Spa until the morning of the 28th, and was immediately summoned by the stewards. He acknowledged the meeting with Symonds and Piquet, but said it was to get Piquet to focus on his racing, rather than his contract. He denied any discussion about a deliberate crash, and denied having said ‘thank you’ to Piquet afterward, then said he might have said it “as a joke, maybe.”

The stewards said one quote summed up Briatore’s position: “I never talk with Nelsinho. I never talk about to crashing the car. He’s never coming to me tell me ‘Flavio, Jesus Christ, I crash the car, you won the race, can you renew my contract?’ You know, if somebody do you a favor like that, I just.... You renew the contract.”

Silence for a Ride

Briatore also supplied the stewards with documentation concerning an exchange with Piquet Senior, and the stewards included a July 28 letter Briatore had sent him in their report.
Briatore told Piquet Senior that he had been “extremely shocked” to learn from a member of his management company (and then had it confirmed by Bernie Ecclestone) that he was charging that his son had been asked to cause the accident in Singapore, and that he was threatening to disclose this to the FIA unless Piquet Junior retained his drive with the Renault team.
Briatore denied the conspiracy, charged blackmail and extortion “by way of threats and outrageous lies on the basis of an alleged hear-say.” He concluded by saying that any attempt to “make any declaration in connection thereof” would result in criminal and civil court action against Piquet Senior “on the ground of defamation, false accusation extortion.”

Considering that, the stewards noted that, despite the seriousness of the allegations, Briatore “carried out no internal investigation before sending the letter.”

The Singapore Race Strategy

Only after the interviews had been conducted on the 27th and 28th did the stewards have access to the Renault radio transmission tapes and the information from the Renault-supplied data disc. And therein lay perhaps the best evidence of a conspiracy.
On the disc was a document titled “Singapore GP 2008 Pre race sheet,” which detailed computer-generated one-, two- and three-stop strategies for each driver. The two- and three-stop Alonso strategies both called for him to start very light on fuel and to make his first stop on lap 14

Combined with timing data from the race, Renault radio transcripts from Singapore show that Pat Symonds pitted Fernando Alonso two laps earlier than planned or required by his position in traffic, presumably in furtherance of a secret plan to have Nelson Piquet cause a safety car period, and did so despite logical objections raised another engineer.

Piquet, starting one position behind (16th) would be carrying a conventional fuel load, and stopping on laps 28 and 44. The document suggests, and the radio traffic confirms, that the plan for Alonso was a three-stop race. Another document shows that Alonso had 8.49 kg of fuel when he actually stopped on lap-12, validating that he had been intended to stop on lap 14, the lap on which Piquet says he had agreed to crash.

During the race, Symonds made the decision to pit Alonso two laps early, and the radio transcript documents how the decision was made, or at least sold to the other engineers, who the stewards concluded had no knowledge of the deliberate crash arrangement.

The imperative for Alonso’s strategy was to make up places in the first, short stint, and while he’d gone from 16th to 12 on the first lap, thereafter he was stuck behind Nakajima. For the first eight laps, Alonso stayed within less than a second of the Williams driver, and Symonds is heard on the tape to observe that “While we’re behind Nakajima we’re fucked. We’re not going anywhere.” An engineer agrees, saying “It’s fucking our three-stop, isn’t it, completely.”
Symonds replies “I can tell you now we’re not three- stopping,” but according to the strategy, that would still have left Alonso pitting on lap 14.

At the end of lap five, an engineer notes that Alonso’s fuel consumption means he could potentially go to lap 15 “and maybe we get to 16.” Symonds responds, “don’t worry about fuel, because I’m going to get him out of this traffic earlier than that.”

Another engineer reports that the computer program working strategy variations on an ongoing basis is not working.
Piquet is then heard, on lap 8, asking “What lap are we in.” One engineer believes he is asking what lap he’s to come in for fuel, but Symonds says “No. Just tell him he is about...he’s completing...he is about to complete lap 8.”

Given that Piquet’s first stop is not planned until lap 28, the question is highly unusual. Told he’s on lap 8, Piquet says he cannot see the pit sign board. Piquet then says “It’s better to count through the laps because I cannot see (the pit sign board).”
Symonds says “Right. What have we got? Fucking hell; we’ve got seven seconds (between Alonso and) Nakajima.” In fact, the gap is less than a second, and Symonds is actually complaining about a problem with their computers.

On lap eight, Nakajima finally passed the fuel-heavy Jarno Trulli, as Alonso would on the following lap, but lost four seconds behind and getting around Trulli. He then begins to reduce the gap, to 3.692 on lap 10, and 3.122 on lap 11.
An engineer reports that Alonso has run 1.5 seconds quicker than the Japanese, and Symonds responds “One and a half. So we’re going to catch him in about three laps, yeah?” and that is confirmed by another engineer.
“Right. I’m going to... I think we’re going to stop him just before we catch (Nakajima) and get him out of (the traffic) the reason being we’ve still got this worry on the...on the fuel pump. It’s only a couple of laps short. We’re going to be stopping him early and we’re going to go to lap 40" for the second stop.

In reality, however, Symonds had been told that the fuel pump problem in the first laps had cleared up, has been reminded that Alonso has plenty of fuel to go to a scheduled stop on lap 14, and told that the gap to the Williams is over three seconds and coming down at the rate of only half a second or so per lap.
Nevertheless, after Alonso reports a lack of grip on the lesser of the two tires compounds, Briatore responds that there is “no way we’re overtaking Nakajima with these tires.” In fact, Alonso wasn’t going to so much as catch up to Nakajima before the planned stop on lap 14.

Symonds again said he would stop Alonso on lap 12, “that looks like it’s all going to work out.” Symonds then repeats his decision, twice. Inexplicably, given the gap and closing rate, Symonds somehow concludes that, “with a good lap, we’re going to be within a second and a half of him, which is right.”
An engineer then questions Symonds’ decision to stop two laps early, asking “Pat, do you still not think that this is a bit early? We only (closed the gap by) six tenths on that lap,” to which Symonds responded “No, no, it’s going to be alright.” The engineer then points out that the gap to Nakajima is 3.1 seconds, to which Symonds replied “Yeah. I mean, we might be able to get one more lap (without being delayed by proximity to Nakajima) but I’m not gonna risk missing anything.” Alonso is then called in for fuel and tires, and after he acknowledges the instruction, Briatore is heard to say “Anyway, we had nothing to lose,” to which Symonds replies, “Exactly,” as Alonso rejoins 20th, and last.

Immediately, Symonds says “Right. Now let’s concentrate on Nelson”. Informed by an engineer that Piquet has a significant speed advantage over Rubens Barrichello, Symonds replies “Just hang on,” but Briatore says “Tell him to push.” Symonds then says he wants to look at the lap time at the end of the lap. “Just one minute, please. I just want to see where he is.”
Some 30 seconds elapse, and then, as Piquet begins the fateful lap 14, Symonds tells the engineer communicating with Piquet “you’ve gotta push him really bloody hard now. If he doesn’t get past Barrichello, he’s a...he’s going nowhere. He’s got to get past Barrichello this lap.” Briatore adds, “Tell him, push.” The engineer so instructs Piquet, and seconds later he’s in the wall at turn 17.

Evidently seeing the video of Piquet’s accident, one engineer is heard observing “Fucking hell, that was a big shunt.” Briatore then says “Fucking hell. My every fucking disgrace. Fucking.... He’s not a driver.” In November, Briatore will nevertheless do a deal with Piquet for 2009, though dropping his salary from $1.5 to $1 million and obtaining an option that will eventually allow them to drop him from the team after the Hungarian GP.

The Stewards’ Conclusions

The Belgian GP stewards drew several conclusions which led them to refer the matter to the World Council. They were unable to ask Piquet about Symonds’ contention that it was the driver who raised the possibility of an intentional crash, but considered that Symonds’ admission that a discussion of the possibility had taken place to be “substantial support” of Piquet’s
allegation that the crash was deliberate. “Taken together,” the stewards concluded, Symonds’ admission of the discussion with Piquet, his refusal on the 27th and again on the 28th to answer question about what was discussed when he, Piquet and Briatore met prior to the race, and Symonds’ refusal to deny that he indicated where and on which lap Piquet should have his crash led them to “consider it reasonable, on balance, to conclude that the allegations made by (Piquet) are, in large part, true.
The stewards did not consider the telemetry alone to be conclusive evidence that Piquet intentionally crashed, but taken together with his admission caused them to find support for the admission and how he had caused the crash.

The allegations by Piquet and Symonds answers and refusals to answer “appear to the stewards to indicate that there may have been some discussion in Mr. Briatore’s presence of the possibility of causing a deliberate crash. However, they did not consider themselves to be in a position “to draw any definitive conclusion regarding Mr. Briatore’s knowledge or involvement. They did, however, observe that Briatore’s “reaction to being told by the stewards in interview that his executive director of engineering had admitted to discussing a deliberate crash with (Piquet) did not appear to be one of shock and/or anger,” and that Briatore’s letter to the senior Piquet “was a strange reaction to such a serious allegation” of extortion. “The more logical response from a position of innocence might have been either to launch an internal investigation or to report the allegations to the FIA and take all necessary steps to confirm they were unfounded, thereby removing the alleged threat of extortion.”
In their report’s final paragraph, the stewards wrote that “there is evidence which, on balance, suggests that NPJ’s crash was deliberate and formed part of a plan aimed at securing a benefit for the team in which at least one senior Renault team member was complicit,” leading them to refer the matter to the World Council.

The View from Here

We are prepared to go a bit farther than the stewards, but not across the board.
A lot of drivers have struggled with Briatore’s rather unique approach to driver management and his conflict of interest arising from being both a driver’s manager/ agent and his employer. And countless drivers new to F1 have faced not only the prospect but the reality of falling out of Formula 1 due to inferior equipment and a failure to deliver on contracted promises. Only Piquet, so far as we know, has deemed it acceptable in those circumstances to put himself and potentially others at risk by deliberately causing a high-speed accident. That he did, and judging by the video that was available on YouTube (until the commercial rights holder/Bernie Ecclestone had it removed), he actually practiced the incident on the formation lap. His decision cannot be excused by his admission, particularly as it was born out of his animosity for Briatore rather than contrition, nor by his age.

Symonds is at the least guilty of conspiracy, by his own admission. His statement that he and Piquet discussed an intentional crash means that, under the most favorable scenario, he and Piquet were co- conspirators once the crash took place. Even if one assumes Symonds told Piquet not to do it, given the crash and his failure to report the conversation to Briatore and the FIA, he entered into a conspiracy with Piquet. If, under those circumstances, he told Briatore, then the team principal became a co-conspirator for also failing to inform the sanctioning body. Rather, given what Symonds, at least, knew, Piquet was re-hired for 2009, and on terms more favorable to the team.

In reading the radio transcript, we were reminded of President Richard Nixon and Watergate. In an Oval Office conversation with John Dean, Nixon told Dean to get hush- money to the burglars. Then — knowing as only he did that the conversation was being recorded — Nixon added the self-serving comment for posterity, “But it would be wrong.” We here echoes of that in Briatore’s post-accident comment about Piquet not being a driver, and in his and Symonds admonishing Piquet to push harder at the beginning of the lap on which he would crash.

The radio comments can, however, be viewed two ways, but given the questions to which Symonds refused answers, and the answers he did provide, we strongly suspect that Symonds was attempting to avoid the additional burden of lying while shifting the blame for the crash to Piquet and shielding Briatore. One of the most significant statements made in defense has potentially ominous implications. Symonds told the Belgian stewards that he had not lied, but had “reserved my position just a little.” Clearly the reservation was accomplished by not answering the more important questions put to him. By failing to provide those answers, Symonds appears largely to have been shielding Briatore from accusations of complicity. We find it more than difficult to avoid concluding that Symonds believed in the stewards’ meeting that he was toast in any event and that he shielded Briatore with silence pending cutting a deal that will take care of him after he, like Mike Coughlin and Nigel Stepney not long ago, will be banned from the sport.

Unless Symonds corroborates Piquet’s contention that Briatore was involved in a discussion about deliberately crashing, what we’ve seen is not sufficient to convict the team principal, even under the largely undefined and highly individual standards of evidence and proof that apply in the World Council. The evidence, and Briatore’s own actions and statements, justify a high level of suspicion — and for us, based also on his history, a belief that he was a conspirator — they do not constitute what would be a court requirement: proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Briatore spoke to the Belgian stewards at length about Piquet’s emotional state — the ‘rogue employee’ defense — though he neglected to mention that he’d created it and repeatedly exacerbated it. What no one seems to have noted is the emotional state of Briatore and Symonds, among others in the team. At the time, there were serious questions about whether Renault president Carlos Ghosn would keep the team alive in 2009, having previously stated that the team had to perform. Both drivers were out of contention for the championship, but Piquet’s intentional crash was decisive in Alonso beating Nick Heidfeld to fifth, and it significantly helped Renault beat Toyota to fourth in the constructors’ championship. That’s motivation, and juries consider motivation.

On the other hand, we’ve not yet heard from Renault, beyond what little Briatore and Symonds told the Belgian stewards, and any pre-hearing response from the team is not due until September 14th. It therefore seems prudent to withhold final judgment, despite what appears to us to be damning evidence in hand, and even more prudent to avoid predicting how the World Council members will view all this on the 21st.
Assuming a guilty verdict, as most who are privy to all or part of the evidence seem to be doing, the question shifts to the penalty. Our view is that what evidently was done in Singapore was as serious as what was done in the McLaren spying case, given the safety implications, that a race was fixed, and the fact that, absent the Piquet crash, it is not difficult to see last year’s championship having gone to Felipe Massa, rather than Lewis Hamilton. We therefore believe that the precedent has been set, and should be followed, which would mean another $100 million fine, and the banning from the sport of Piquet, Symonds and, quite possibly, Briatore.

If it comes to that, FIA president Max Mosley will have had quite a final year in office, driving from the sport not only his old arch enemy Ron Dennis but Briatore as well, and, we would then assume, obtaining as a knock- on benefit the departure of another of the dwindling number of manufacturers participating in Formula 1.

(Racefax.com)