Renault "crash-gate"

[niky]

spygate involved the whole mclaren team. they did it (and probably would have continued) if they were not caught.

crashgate involved 3 persons in one race although i think the act was really dangerous.

one thing that baffles me is that why would briatore and symonds implement something like that when statistics will show them that piquet jr will crash his car on his own.

Meep. Wrong.

Spygate involved one ex-Ferrari engineer. The circumstantial evidence used against McLaren was the conversations between Alonso and Pedrossa where they were talking about how that engineer knew when Kimi was going to pit... because he had detailed knowledge of the car.

The FIA investigation was never able to show that anyone else on the team had knowledge of the Ferrari technical documents, (which the guy kept at his house) though they knew or suspected the guy knew something, and that the McLaren did not include any technology or design stolen from Ferarri.

The original fine and punishment for SpyGate was the same as this one. Slap on the wrist. Suspended sentence. Only after Ferrari protested did the FIA slap McLaren with the huge 100 million pound fine.

Renault, on the other hand... had McLaren's technical drawings and data... two years' worth, on their servers... there was evidence that they attempted to copy McLaren's J-Dampers... but since they "cooperated" and they "didn't benefit from the design" and they "willingly erased the data"... they were let off completely scot-free.

(you can find the details on both investigations online... both had the same result)

-

This one is an entirely different kettle of fish. It's not the cheating... per se... it's all about safety. Banning a team for at least a few races would be mandatory due to the huge safety violation of: 1. Causing a debris field on track, which could wreck other cars. 2. Causing flying debris, which could injure other drivers and other spectators, and 3. Causing a driver to risk his life for race advantage.

For that... rightfully, Briatore has been kicked out of the FIA... for life. Symond's five year sentence seems kind of weak, but then again... five years where a race engineer gets to do no work, and at the end of that, he's a pariah? That's justice. But that the team doesn't get punished? Complete BS. If this was just about cheating, Briatore would have been allowed to resign with no punishment, like Ron Dennis in "lie-gate"... but it isn't, so Briatore's punishment is severe. In "lie-gate", at least, McLaren was docked points (though they should've had at least a one-race ban)... here... Renault gets... nothing?

It isn't the rest of the team's fault, but the owners of the team are responsible for whatever actions their employees perform in the line of duty. If the lollipop man messes up... the entire team takes a hit... (race ban or points penalty) if the fuel rig guy messes up... the entire team takes a hit (points penalty... dangerous situation). This is no different... and in fact, worse.

I can understand the FIA don't want to force Renault to quit F1... which they most definitely would if they got a two-year ban... but no punishment? That's absolutely ridiculous.