LONDON - BRITISH newspapers on Tuesday branded Renault's punishment over the 'crashgate' affair lenient, and questioned whether commercial pressures played a part in the FIA's decision.
Motor sport's governing body, the FIA, on Monday handed the Renault Formula One team a suspended ban from the sport for ordering its driver Nelson Piquet junior to crash in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Renault, who have been involved in F1 since 1977, were in the dock for conspiring with Piquet Jr to cause a deliberate crash to help the Brazilian's teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race. Team boss Flavio Briatore was slapped with an 'unlimited' ban from the sport while chief engineer Pat Symonds was suspended for five years.
Under headlines such as 'Great Escape' and 'Anger as Renault gets easy ride', newspapers said the soft punishment for Renault may have aimed at convincing it to remain in the sport at a time when its commitment was unclear.
'Certainly the expectation was that the team would escape a ban, but no one had foreseen quote how lenient the punishment would be,' motor racing correspondent Tom Cary said in the Daily Telegraph.
'Renault's future in Formula One remains precarious and it is widely believed that the sentence may have been designed to help persuade the French manufacturer to stay in the sport,' he said.
The FIA was criticised for allowing the fear that Renault might leave to cloud its thinking when it handed the manufacturer the suspended ban after a hearing in Paris, according to The Times. 'I'm not surprised they've let Renault off,' British former Formula One world champion Damon Hill was quoted saying.
'It's a crying shame for the sport,' he said. 'Formula One has to ask itself, is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport?'
The Guardian pointed to the fact that McLaren was fined a massive US$100 million (S$141 million) in 2007 and stripped of points for their role in obtaining confidential information from rival Ferrari in the 'spygate' scandal.
The newspaper said however that McLaren suffered such a punishment largely because it refused to come clean over the affair.
Piquet, as whistleblower, was given immunity by FIA for his part in the conspiracy. Renault's ban is suspended until the end of the 2011 season and will only be activated if they are found guilty of a similar offence. -- AFP
Following the Renault Formula One team's acceptance of a race-fixing charge, the team has been given a lifetime ban, suspended for two years. Team boss Flavio Briatore will never again be allowed to take any part in F1.

The deliberate crash behind the scandal 
Although not a licence holder himself, the FIA, F1's governing body, has made it clear at yesterday's meeting of the World Motorsport Council that it will refuse to sanction any events Briatore is involved in or licence any F1 racers he works with. He did not attend the hearing in Paris.

Renault's ban will only be enforced if the team is found guilty of a similar offence in the next two years. Top engineer Pat Symonds was banned for five years. The decision not to kick Renault out of Formula One was largely due to mitigating factors, including the fact that Renault submitted additional evidence against itself after deciding not to contest the claims.


Retired British racing drive Damon Hill commented on the developments: "I'm not surprised they've let Renault off. It's a crying shame for the sport. Formula One has to ask itself, is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport?"

Part of the evidence came from a team member identified only as Witness X. Witness X's identity is known only to a few within Formula One and the FIA, and testimony given by him or her included confirming that Briatore was fully aware of the race-fixing plan. Nelson Piquet Jr, the driver who deliberately crashed his car last year, was granted immunity as another whistleblower.