The showdown between the FIA and Renault over race fixing allegations is set to come to a head in just a few days, the FIA has reached out to Pat Symonds (director of engineering) at Renault F1 and offered him immunity from punishment if he releases further details regarding the events surrounding the 2008 Grand Prix of Singapore.
Symonds has been somewhat suspect in dealing with these allegations all together. The director indicated that there were discussions about having Piquet crash, but those ideas were brought forward originally by Piquet himself. Then when asked about it again, Symonds decided the best course of action was to say nothing at all. If he so chooses to accept the immunity agreement, that would leave Flavio as the only remaining person of interest without such an agreement.
With news of this potential agreement, there lies the possibility that the Renault F1 upper management may end up tearing themselves apart. Either way, if Symonds takes this immunity from the FIA, that may be the final nail in this team’s coffin. I still feel as though you are going to need hard data to support this claim, which I think will be very difficult to provide. However, since the FIA apparently works outside the law and makes things up as they go, I could easily see a huge penalty coming in the next few days. It is also my opinion that Nelson Piquet Jr. has acted like a little spoiled ball baby. You could not cut it in Formula 1 so you raise as much hell as you can before you leave. He needs to realize that his Formula 1 career is no over. No team is going to want a snitch and a baby on their team. Being upset about getting fired is understandable. Breaking an agreement with your team bosses and running the team through the mud is childish and completely immature. Grow up and move on Nelson. This just furthers why I have never been a Piquet family fan.