Quote from dawguk :

I was reading Sebastien Vettel's twitter page earlier

Was it the real twitter account of Sebastian Vettel?

Quote from Ichabot :

Was it the real twitter account of Sebastian Vettel?

It's linked from the BBC website, so *shrug* I guessed so.

Vettel should make sure he backs up his F1 installation before he attempts to delete Briatore, just incase it produces undesirable results.

Quote :

Renault has taken legal action against Nelson Piquet and his son over race-fixing claims that could lead to the French team being thrown out of Formula One.

The team said Friday that team principal Flavio Briatore has started criminal proceedings in France against former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and his father, a three-time world champion, for making false allegations and attempting to blackmail Renault into renewing Piquet Jr.'s contract for the 2009 season.

Briatore called Piquet's claims "outrageous lies" and akin to "blackmail."

http://tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/story/?id=290671

sorry briatore, but i believe nelsinho more.

Quote from samjh :

I don't trust the WMSC at all. It's a kangaroo court, IMHO. The ICA is much more trust-worthy, as the people who comprise it are distinguished jurists who are not under the FIA President's thumb.

and if we go back to the spy-gate, all the FIA could prove was that McLaren had some Ferrari's stuff, without proving any intention or whatever else, McLaren got penalised heavily...

so if we apply the same logic here, all the FIA would do is "prove" Piquet crashed deliberately, without proving whether he do it by himself or was ordered to do so by Renault, to punish Renault heavily and screw Flavio up...

I surely hope that won't happen again of cos...

Quote from JCTK :

and if we go back to the spy-gate, all the FIA could prove was that McLaren had some Ferrari's stuff, without proving any intention or whatever else, McLaren got penalised heavily...

so if we apply the same logic here, all the FIA would do is "prove" Piquet crashed deliberately, without proving whether he do it by himself or was ordered to do so by Renault, to punish Renault heavily and screw Flavio up...

I surely hope that won't happen again of cos...

au contrate, mon ami.

if we apply the same logic, renault will be found guilty, yet won't be punished. however, mclaren will be punished, because they have an 'M' in their team name.

Quote from dawguk :

au contrate, mon ami.

if we apply the same logic, renault will be found guilty, yet won't be punished. however, mclaren will be punished, because they have an 'M' in their team name.

lets not forget Mad Max hates Ron Dennis back then (and most probably still does now), and he also made it very clearly that how he thinks of Flavio.
the one thing in common is/was that they are the team principals of the respective teams.

WTF! Briatore said today on the press conference that Nelsinho "was living with an older man", insinuating that he's gay... These people have gone nuts...

Maybe this older man was Max Mosley... :uglyhamme

Quote from JCTK :

and if we go back to the spy-gate, all the FIA could prove was that McLaren had some Ferrari's stuff, without proving any intention or whatever else, McLaren got penalised heavily...

Alonso and de la Rosa were caught discussing the weight distribution of the Ferrari to 2 decimal places. How does that information become available to the drivers if it isn't shared through the team by the Chief Designer?

Quote from dawguk :

the blame should fall on the decision makers at the top of the pile, not the mindless peon that's doing their bidding.

how is being a mindless peon in any way excuseable? and yes midless peons should be punished as well
by your logic commiting a war crime would not be punishable if someone ordered you to do it

Quote from JCTK :

that McLaren had some Ferrari's stuff, without proving any intention or whatever else

so the ferrari blueprints just somehow suddenly magically showed up on the desks of the engineering department?

Quote from Shotglass :

how is being a mindless peon in any way excuseable? and yes midless peons should be punished as well
by your logic commiting a war crime would not be punishable if someone ordered you to do it

Yeah, because war crimes and formula one are comparable.

I've just read that WMSC decisions cannot be appealed to the ICA without the FIA President's approval. There is no chance of that happening with Max Mosley at the wheel (he hates Briatore). This explains why Briatore has commenced his "blackmail" proceedings in the French courts, since the FIA and its systems are governed by French laws and can be overruled there.

Mosley interview: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78489

Interesting comments about Spygate too...

Quote from deggis :

Mosley interview: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78489

Interesting comments about Spygate too...

sounds like a lot of "no comment, wait and see" to me.

It would seem to be a "no comment, wait and see" interview. But between the lines, there are hints that he has a lot of prejudice against Renault, namely Flavio Briatore, and would like to see him taken down in the same fashion as Ron Dennis.

How the hell can people blame Piquet for this, seriously.


unless hes lieing about the whole thing you can't blame him if Renault wanted him to crash at all.

They are his employers and they are the ones paying them millions to drive in these cars, they are hes bosses so hes pretty much forced to do what they say its completely unfair blaming the driver for this when the team has intentions of doing such a thing.

It looks to be that Renault were pretty much doing everything in thier power to make sure Alonso signed for another year, and forgetting this is still a sport in the process.

wouldn't it be funny if piquet sued renault, and won?

1) renault tells piquet to crash car
2) renault fires piquet
3) ...
4) profit!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78532

Altough Briatore is basically referring to Nelson Sr's stupid remarks made years ago, he is suggesting Nelson Jr is gay. Pretty low.

yeah, i'm starting to think he doesn't have a leg to stand on, and will say anything to distract people from the real issue.

Quote from Mustafur :

How the hell can people blame Piquet for this, seriously.


unless hes lieing about the whole thing you can't blame him if Renault wanted him to crash at all.

They are his employers and they are the ones paying them millions to drive in these cars, they are hes bosses so hes pretty much forced to do what they say its completely unfair blaming the driver for this when the team has intentions of doing such a thing.

It looks to be that Renault were pretty much doing everything in thier power to make sure Alonso signed for another year, and forgetting this is still a sport in the process.

There is a certain amount of responability to be laid at Piquet's feet, but not at the same level of the bosses, but all must be held responsible for what may or may not have happened.

With all due respect to the previous posts, I think corn flakes is surely the answer?

I can not understand Nelsons action. I see two variants.

1. Nelson say he crashes by order from the team
2. He is ruled a liar
3. He will pay a huge sum to FB & PS in the libel case
4. He will never work near F1 or any high end motorsports again

1. Nelson say he crashes by order from the team.
2. It is ruled he say the truth
3. Renault is excluded from: the race/championship/Bernie sack of gold/F1 forever.
4. He will never work near F1 or any high end motorsports again

I see a 3rd:

1. Nelson is a shit driver
   
2. He will never work near F1 or any high end motorsports again
   

Quote from J@tko :

I see a 3rd:

1. Nelson is a shit driver
   
2. He will never work near F1 or any high end motorsports again
   

Nelson is only shit by F1 standards. He almost won GP2, and is a former British F3 champion. He's quite a handy driver, well within international touring car or sports car standards.

As for working near F1 or any high end motorsports, I'm afraid you're right. With this accusation, he's pretty much dashed his hopes of ever being hired by a top-end team.

Quote from samjh :

Nelson is only shit by F1 standards. He almost won GP2, and is a former British F3 champion. He's quite a handy driver, well within international touring car or sports car standards.

As for working near F1 or any high end motorsports, I'm afraid you're right. With this accusation, he's pretty much dashed his hopes of ever being hired by a top-end team.

F1 drivers really aren't ALL that. Schumacher struggles to win kart races at his home circuit. He's still very very good, but he would be destroyed at an international level. Don't confuse that with me saying guys like Ardigo/Thonon/Lammers are better drivers it only to highlight that F1 drivers aren't on another planet.

F1 is all about getting in the right team, and finding the right support network within that team. Look at Liuzzi. Everyone thought he was sh1t and at monza he was lit considering he hasn't driven hardly at all this year in F1.

Had Piquet found the right team, and right network he may have done very well. Who knows.