Former Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr has revealed details about the conversation that led to him agreeing to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in order to help his team mate Fernando Alonso win the race.
The Brazilian driver lifted the lid on the Fixgate scandal to the FIA last year, in return for immunity from punishment over the incident, which saw him crash at the Marina Bay track on lap 14 in order to trigger a safety car that enabled Alonso to win.
Earlier this week, Piquet Jr and his father, three-time world champion Nelson Piquet, were awarded damages from Renault after the team was found guilty of libel against them.
That case is the latest legal case over the incident, which follows punishments being handed out and then overturned for former Renault boss Flavio Briatore and former technical director Pat Symonds.
And following the verdict over their ongoing libel battle, Piquet Jr has expanded on the details of what happened between himself, Briatore and Symonds in Singapore to the UK Times newspaper.
Piquet claimed that Symonds and Briatore first approached him after he and Alonso had both qualified badly.
"'Look, both cars are at the back of the grid,' [Symonds] told me," Piquet explained to the newspaper, "'We are in a situation where we are not going to get anywhere in this race unless something extraordinary happens.'"
He added that Briatore suggested that the race was set to be "a disaster for the team".
Piquet went on to say that: "I just sat there listening because I couldn't figure out where this was going. They were both very fidgety and the situation was incredibly tense. I don't think I had said a word by this point.
"It was only after five minutes that Flavio made his pitch. 'Look, the only way we can benefit in any way out here is by getting a safety car on the course at the right moment,' he said.
"I just sat there, looking at them. They both reminded me of what had happened in Germany when someone had crashed just after I had pitted and I came second in the race. 'Do you want to help the team?' Flavio said. 'If you crash at the right moment, it could change everything.'"
The Brazilian driver explained that he had agreed to crash when ordered to because he had felt happy to have been asked to do something for the team, after being criticised for so long.
"They wanted the safety car on lap 14," he explained, "It actually felt good to agree to do something for the team after all the criticism I had taken. I did not even consider the morality of it."
He added: "As the laps ticked by, I knew what was coming, but it was difficult to believe what I was going to do. I was almost more nervous of messing it up for the team than for my own safety.
"I was so scared, I could hardly breathe. I was straining my eyes to see the board each time I completed the circuit so I would know which lap I was on, but it was dark out there and I could hardly see a thing.
"I screamed into the radio again and again, 'What lap are we in? What lap are we in?' They confirmed the lap and I began to brace myself because I knew what I was about to do - even if I could not believe I was going to do it.
"I came around the chicane on lap 14 and I could feel my stomach tighten. I was incredibly scared, it was like a dream. I touched the rear wheel on the wall and then stepped on the throttle to crash into the other wall. I felt no pain on impact, but the adrenalin was pumping. I felt in control of the car throughout the crash."
Piquet also mourned that the only present he got from Briatore for his efforts was a "tap on the back".
He was eventually dumped by the team midway through the 2009 season, and then went on to reveal the details of Fixgate to the FIA. He admitted that he knew he would never 'escape from the shadow' of the fiasco, but said that he was "unreservedly" sorry for his actions.
"If I am being honest, I think I was motivated more by anger against Flavio than by a desire for a clean conscience," he mused.
"Looking back, it seems like a lifetime ago, but I know I will never fully escape from its shadow.
"I apologise unreservedly for what I did. I just hope people will understand the pressures I was under. It is no excuse, but I was a deeply unhappy person. I am a stronger man today.
"If the question was asked again, I am sure I would have the strength to say no."
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