Despite the trials of Fixgate being over, Nelson Piquet Sr has refused to stop twisting the knife into the Renault carcass, renewing his vitriol towards his son's former employers by saying that the team was "managed by Fernando Alonso".
Piquet Sr had his latest rant at the Brazilian media a week after the conclusion of the Fixgate scandal that was brought to public attention when Piquet Jr blew the whistle over details of how Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds conspired with him to fix the 2008 Singapore GP by Piquet deliberately crashing.
The Renault team received a two year suspended ban from the sport, while Briatore and Symonds both got extended bans from all forms of motorsport, with Briatore being banned for life.
And while Piquet Sr's latest attack does not seek to imply that Alonso himself was in on the Fixgate act, though he has accused the Spaniard of being involved before, the three-time world champion instead criticised the team for not giving his son a fair platform of support relative to Alonso.
“This is not something that should exist in motor racing,” he rambled in(s)anely, “In my career I would never have thought about doing something like this, but the circumstances that made him do this were inevitable. He was under great pressure.
“This year was really very bad due to the favouring in terms of cars that Renault gave to Alonso. The team was not even managed by Briatore, it was managed by Alonso himself.
“Two hours before the race [Briatore] said [to Piquet Jnr] 'If you want to help the team then you have to do this'. He accepted doing something under great pressure from Renault. He didn't have much else to lose in terms of his career."
He concluded by saying that: “I knew that this was a crime – manipulating the result of a race is a criminal act. There is no room for this in sport, and especially when it is premeditated.”
Meanwhile, as Piquet Jr, who received no punishment from the FIA after being given immunity in return for his testimony, scratches around for some way to restart his F1 career, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes that the Brazilian will find his way back onto the grid.
“Piquet will get another drive,” Bernie rambled at UK hysteria rag the Daily Express, “He's a driver who does as he's told. That's what any team boss would want – and they don't all do that.”
Manor Grand Prix boss John Booth has already said that he would like to have Piquet Jr with him in 2010, though he also admitted that he had not had any actual contact with the Brazilian.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
