F1: Mosley Call On Renault Could Come Friday

Formula 1

F1: Mosley Call On Renault Could Come Friday

The FIA could announce as early as Friday whether Renault is to be called before the World Motor Sport Council ...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted September 03, 2009 Balen (BEL)

Max Mosley has the job of deciding whether there is now sufficient evidence to take the matter to the World Motor Sport Council. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The FIA could announce as early as Friday whether Renault is to be called before the World Motor Sport Council to answer allegations surrounding the 2008 Singapore GP. The latest we are likely to hear some news is the start of next week.

Nelson Piquet Jr is believed to have given a statement concerning his version of events to the FIA and its legal representatives some time ago.

Based on that information the three Belgian GP stewards – Sweden’s Lars Osterlind, Greece’s Vassilis Despotopoulos and local representative Yves Bacquelaine – were subsequently called upon to interview key members of the Renault team at Spa last Thursday, accompanied by the FIA’s professional legal support.

The high level of secrecy surrounding the matter apparently meant that the Renault staff concerned, including engineering boss Pat Symonds and Fernando Alonso, had little or no warning about what to expect.

Flavio Briatore was seen by the stewards after his arrival on Friday, and unlike his colleagues, was thus presumably able to undertake some sort of preparation.

It’s thought that the stewards’ report resulting from the interviews has already gone to the FIA. Max Mosley has the job of deciding whether there is now sufficient evidence to take the matter to the WMSC. Osterlind and Despotopoulos are both WMSC members, and thus have a vote.

The date of Monday September 21 for a potential WMSC meeting that emerged in the Spanish media today appears to be an accurate one.

It remains to be seen what the content of Piquet’s evidence is, but clearly it has been taken sufficiently seriously by the FIA for the matter to get this far. The FIA has had access to data from the race, which presumably could provide some trace of any unusual steering or throttle inputs at the time of the accident. It’s also been suggested that there could be ostensibly innocent radio messages that Piquet has in effect ‘decoded’ on behalf of the FIA.

If Renault is found guilty the scale of any ensuing penalty could be huge, and in addition to any longer term sanctions could involve the team being excluded from the last four races of the 2009 season. The team’s cars and freight will already have been shipped to Singapore at the time of the September 21 hearing, and many team personnel will either already be there, or will be in transit.

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Adam Cooper

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