Max Mosley and the FIA were accused of bowing to commercial pressures last night after the hearing into the “Crashgate” scandal resulted in Renault escaping with a suspended ban.
The judgment in Paris was attacked by those who believe that the world governing body of motor sport, with Mosley as its president, is far too close to Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder.
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, which includes Ecclestone among its 26 members, was criticised for allowing the fear that Renault might leave Formula One to cloud its thinking when it handed the French car manufacturer a lifetime ban from the sport, but suspended for two years.
Damon Hill attacked the decision. “I’m not surprised they’ve let Renault off,” the British former Formula One world champion said. “It’s a crying shame for the sport.”
Hill said he saw the decision not to punish Renault as expedient. “You have to put this in the context of inconsistencies in the way in which the FIA has treated breaches of the regulations over the years and, knowing what we know, we cannot dissociate this from the power play going on behind the scenes for control of Formula One,” he said. “Formula One has to ask itself, is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport? There is a whole book on what’s wrong with Formula One. It’s called Bernie’s Game and the history of this episode is typical.”
Mosley defended the judgment. “The penalty that we have imposed is the harshest one we can inflict, which is disqualification and it is complete expulsion from the sport,” he said. “However, because Renault have demonstrated that they had absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place, that’s to say the Renault F1 team didn’t know and still less, of course, does the company have any responsibility, it would be wrong in the circumstances to impose an immediate penalty.”
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