The Renault Formula One team have agreed to pay damages to their former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and his ex-world champion father after accusing the pair of lying in the controversial “crashgate” affair.
Renault have confirmed on their official website that they were wrong to issue a press release in September 2009, in which they claimed the Piquets had lied by suggesting the team had forced Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
At the time, Piquet Jr. stated he was ordered to crash by team bosses in order to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
And when the case was heard by the World Motor Sport Council, Renault were handed a two-year suspended F1 ban, enabling the pair to sue for libel in British courts.
Admitting they libeled the duo, a Renault statement read: “The team accepts—as it did before the World Motor Sport Council—that the allegations made by Nelson Piquet Junior were not false. CNN International
“These serious allegations contained in the press release were wholly untrue and unfounded, and we withdraw them unequivocally,” Renault said in a statement. “We would like to apologize unreservedly to Mr. Piquet Jr. and his father for the distress and embarrassment caused as a result.
“As a mark of the sincerity of our apology and regret, we have agreed to pay them a substantial amount of damages for libel as well as their costs, and have undertaken not to repeat these allegations at any time in the future.”
FIA banned Briatore from motor sports in September 2009 for allegedly ordering Piquet Jr. to crash his car to help his teammate.
In a deposition given to FIA investigators in exchange for his immunity, Piquet Jr. said Briatore and Symonds ordered him to crash where it would take the most time to clear the damaged car and result in the longest possible delay. The Associated Press
Today, the Piquets’ counsel, David Sherborne, told Mr Justice Eady: “The defendant’s press release also suggested that the claimants had not only lied in making these allegations but that they had deliberately invented them in order to blackmail the defendant into allowing Mr Piquet Jr to drive for the team for the remainder of the 2009 season, and they were therefore guilty of a serious criminal offence.”
Following the reading of the apology in open court, Dominic Crossley of Collyer Bristow LLP, acting for the Piquets, said it marked “the start rather than the end of the long journey they are both taking to correct many of the wrongs that took place during last year’s Crashgate scandal”.
He added: “They were both treated appallingly by Renault F1 when they dared to reveal the scandal to the governing body and Nelsinho was abused terribly throughout his absurdly short career in F1. It is to the immense credit of both of my clients that they refused to be deterred from righting the wrongs despite the ferocity of the attacks and the size of the opponents they have had to confront.”
After the FIA ruling in September 2009 that effectively banned Briatore from the sport for life, which was later overturned by a French court, Piquet accused the Italian of having “driven me to the lowest point I had ever reached in my life”. The Guardian
“It is to the immense credit of both my clients that they have refused to be deterred from righting the wrongs despite the ferocity of the attacks and the size of the opponents they have had to confront. Nelson Piquet dominated F1 during the early 80s and his reputation as a motorsport legend should remain untarnished by this saga.
“F1 has been deprived of the best of Nelsinho and it is to its detriment that his talent is now being demonstrated elsewhere. Whilst neither of them should ever have had to prove Renault F1’s allegations false, they are both delighted with the successful conclusion of the case.” The Press Association
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