F1 News: Renault team finally apologizes to Nelson Piquet Jr., agrees to pay damages
Formula One racing team Renault has finally apologized former driver Nelson Piquet Jr for unfounded allegations it made against them during the infamous “Crashgate” affair, and has agreed to pay the pair millions of Euros in compensation.
Crashgate erupted last year when Piquet Jr revealed in a press conference that he was ordered by Renault to deliberately crash his car during the 14th lap of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in order to let team-mate Fernando
Alonso win the race. The World Motor Sport Council launched a formal investigation into Piquet Jr’s claims and, just two weeks later, found Renault, team principal Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds guilty. As a result, Renault was awarded
a two-year suspension from the F1 circuit and Briatore a lifetime ban (later reduced to a ban only until 2013).
In a press release issued in September 2009, Renault accused Piquet Jr and his father of fabricating their claims in order to blackmail the team into letting Piquet Jr drive for the rest of the 2009 season.
On December 7, however, 2010, Renault finally withdrew its allegations, accepting in the High Court that they were “wholly untrue and unfounded”. The French constructor apologized to the Piquets and agreed to pay them a six-figure
sum in damages.
In an official statement following the High Court confession, Renault stated, “The team accepts that the allegations made by Nelson Piquet Jr. were not false. It also accepts that Piquet Jr. and his father did not invent these
allegations in order to blackmail the team… The Defendant has agreed to pay the Claimants substantial damages and costs, as well as not to repeat these allegations at any time in the future.”
Piquet Jr has previously talked about how Briatore “had driven me to the lowest point I had ever reached in my life." After the reading of Renault’s apology in court, Dominic Crossley, the Piquets’ counsel, said that the Piquets
had been “treated appallingly by Renault F1 when they dared to reveal the scandal to the governing body and [Piquet Jr] was abused terribly throughout his absurdly short career in F1.”
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