PARIS – Renault escaped severe punishment Monday for ordering former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash, receiving only a suspended two-year ban from Formula One’s governing body.
Flavio Briatore, who quit as team principal last week, was banned indefinitely from any F1 activities by the World Motor Sport Council. Engineering executive director Pat Symonds, who also left the French team last week, was banned for five years after expressing his "eternal regret and shame" that he participated in the conspiracy.
"We gave them a suspended sentence because Renault demonstrated that the team had no responsibility and the company even less," FIA president Max Mosley said. "The penalty for Briatore is that he is no longer associated with the FIA series."
FIA described the scandal as being of "unparalleled severity," but the departure of Renault’s top two men meant the team avoided being thrown out of F1 or handed a heavy fine, although it will pay for the investigation.
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