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The Singapore race-fixing scandal, which has plunged the world’s most glamourous sport into a bitter spiral of recriminations and resignations, will push Formula One’s credibility to the brink on Monday.
It will also go a long way in helping disgraced paddock superpower Renault decide whether to continue in a sport which bleeds 300 million euros ($A500 million) from a stretched budget every year.
The French factory bosses hope the resignations of flamboyant team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds, following allegations they ordered ex-driver Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash in Singapore in 2008, will guarantee clemency when the World Motor Sports Council meets.
Having admitted they will not contest the charges against them, the likelihood is that a heavy fine and a points deduction will be the preferred sentence rather than outright banishment.
However, even that hasn’t stopped the clamour for blood from respected voices within a sport which, in the aftermath of other recent acts of skullduggery, are exhausted by the damage caused to F1’s image.
“When I first heard the accusation that Renault had asked Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately, the question was whether it was true or not,” former champion Niki Lauda told the Daily Mail.
“If it was true, then it amounted to the worst thing that has happened in Formula One.”
Lauda believes Piquet’s crash, deliberately engineered so as to help teammate Fernando Alonso take a surprise victory, is a worse scandal than even the spying affair of 2007 when McLaren were found to be in possession of technical data belonging to rivals Ferrari.
McLaren were fined a record $US100 million ($A115 million) and stripped of their constructors points for the season.
“Yes, the McLaren spying scandal two years ago was extremely serious but mechanics have always discussed technical data among themselves.
“This, though, is new. The biggest damage ever. Now the FIA must punish Renault heavily to restore credibility in the sport.”
As well as the public thirst for retribution in a sport watched by an estimated 600 million people worldwide, the FIA also faces a delicate balancing act on Monday.
Renault’s future in Formula One has been the subject of speculation for a long time. The loss of another manufacturer would be hard to stomach following last year’s withdrawal of Honda and the impending departure of BMW.
Renault’s title sponsor ING will pull out at the end of the season while their parent company reported losses of 2.7 billion euros ($A4.56 billion) in the first half of this year.
Former world champion Alonso, meanwhile, doesn’t come cheap with a salary of around $US25 million ($A28 million) although the Spaniard is widely expected to move to Ferrari in 2010.
Renault’s form on the track this season hasn’t created any great optimism.
After 13 races Alonso is trailing in tenth place in the drivers’ standings while the team are eighth of ten in the constructors’ title race – 126 points from leaders Brawn GP.
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