Episode 13
Crashgate and Why Felipe Massa Wants a WDC 15 Years Later - Weird & Wonderful F1
Welcome to the Steward's Office podcast, where I break down the events of the Crashgate scandal and why it has resurfaced on social media. In this episode, I talk about the events that led to the scandal, including how Fernando Alonso, driving for Renault F1 Team, won the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008.
Fifteen years later, Felipe Massa said he was looking into legal routes to try and get the 2008 F1 Driver World Championship, sparking renewed interest in the Crashgate scandal. The events of the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 remain a controversial and divisive topic in the world of Formula 1 and I'm here to talk all about it.
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Music: Dirty Gertie by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Transcript
00:00
Two drivers, one team and a Formula One scandal that’s being brought back up after 15 years. It’s time to talk about Crashgate. So, get ready because you’ve been summoned to the steward’s office.
00:19
outes to try and get back the:00:51
th round of the:01:23
The Singapore race weekend hadn’t started off too badly for Renault. The practice sessions had gone pretty well for them and they were showing good pace. But when it came to qualifying, Fernando and Nelson ended up being in 15th and 16th place on the grid. And Fernando’s session in particular had been compromised because of a mechanical failure. That's where they ended up starting the race. Fernando in 15th and Nelson in 16th.
01:50
Now,:02:30
Three laps after Fernando Alonso had come out of the pits, Nelson Piquet Jr. had crashed into a wall at turn 17 and a safety car was deployed whilst the car was recovered. Currently, safety car regulations now mean that a driver can pit the minute the safety car has come out. So, a driver at the front can get a massive advantage if all the cars are spread quite far apart because the chances are they aren’t going to lose a place by the time the field bunches up, or they’ll only lose a handful of places and it would be a lot less compared to pitting during the race.
03:05
But this wasn’t the case in:03:25
And since Fernando had only just pitted before the safety car had come up and had a heavy fuel, he was at a massive advantage. Most of the leading cars had needed to pit and ended up behind Fernando and those drivers also ended up behind cars that were much slower and since the circuit has some narrow roads, they weren’t easy to pass.
03:46
For the drivers that also hadn’t pitted during the safety car and were still ahead of Fernando, they were only a light fuel load and had to pit later on in the race whilst Fernando, who was now carrying a heavier fuel load, didn’t have to worry so much about that. In the final third of the race, Fernando Alonso finally took the lead and went on to win the Singapore Grand Prix and he was chuffed with the result.
04:08
Fifteen races in and this was his first podium and his first win of the season and definitely something that both he and the team were going to want to celebrate. Especially considering the fact he had started in 15th and then went on to win the race.
04:24
Post-race interviews with Nelson Piquet Jr had him explain that he was dealing with some tyre graining and it was just getting worse for him as the race went on. The team had asked him to push and he ended up losing the rear of the car and crashing. There was no action that was taken over the incident, it wasn’t like he’d had a racing incident with another driver and crashed into someone else, ruining their race. And the accident was classified as just a simple mistake.
04:50
Renault on the other hand were just celebrating Fernando’s drive. They said that it had been a brilliant tactical race from him and the use of the safety car was lucky. And yeah, sure, there were a couple of people that were questioning the crash but a journalist for grandprix.com didn’t put a lot of stock into those thoughts. He thought those people were just cynics and that no one would really want to think that a team would be that desperate to basically sacrifice one of their drivers.
05:17
Apparently, Felipe Masa at the time had questioned the managing director of Renault, Flavio Briatore but the FIA President had also said that it was all speculation that was going around and there was no action that could be taken just because of some hearsay. And that was the matter put to bed for a while. The season just continued with Fernando finishing 5th in the championship, Nelson in 12th and their collective points that Renault finished the year as fourth in the constructors.
05:43
t be resigned to the team for:06:15
ooking into the events of the:06:35
On September 4th Renault were officially accused of interfering with the race results. The FIA said that they were charging Renault with being in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code which is a catch-all article that relates to any kind of fraudulent activity. They were saying that the team had worked with Nelson Piquet Jr to get him to deliberately crash during the Singapore Grand Prix after Fernando Alonso had pitted to get a safety car to be deployed and allowing Fernando to gain an advantage. Renault was then summoned to a meeting at the World Motorsport Council on September 21st but the team refused to make a statement after the charges were announced.
07:16
Nearly a week after the FIA had announced the charges, Nelson had gone to make his second statement to the FIA on the matter and on the exact same day, his first statement to them was leaked online. In that statement, he said that he was asked by Briatore and Pat Symonds, who was the executive director of Engineering, to deliberately crash at a specific corner. And the corner was important because turn 17 doesn’t have a crane and would have forced a safety car to come out.
07:45
Fernando had said that he hadn’t known anything about this. He wasn’t included in any conversations, no one had mentioned to him about Nelson crashing on purpose and he said that this wasn’t something that ever entered his mind, he just couldn’t imagine it. Nelson wasn't too sure about this though. He’d said that in Fernando’s shoes, he would have questioned the senseless race strategy. You know, the one that no one else near him was following the same strategy. But that didn’t matter and before Renault even went to the World Motorsport Council, Fernando was cleared of any blame by the FIA. And a day after the transcripts had been released, Max Mosley, the head of the FIA at the time said that Nelson wouldn’t have any further action taken against him since he had made his two statements.
08:35
And this was kinda similar to the way the McLaren drivers had been treated during Spygate. I have an entire episode on that, so head over and check that out if you haven't listened to it after this one. But basically, the McLaren drivers at the time were told that as long as they helped the FIA out with the investigation they wouldn't have any action taken against them. So, that wasn't an unusual route for the FIA to take.
08:58
keep his seat for the rest of:09:24
Now, the younger Piquet had said that he was telling the truth about everything. He had nothing to fear, nothing to hide. He knew the power and influence that Renault and Briatore held but he wasn’t going to be bullied into another decision that he would regret.
09:39
On September 14th, Pat Symonds was apparently offered immunity from the hearing if he was willing to provide the FIA with information about the events and it's reported at the time that he’d said that the idea for the crash had action come from Nelson Piquet Jr.
09:52
And then, two days later Renault F1 team had said that they weren’t going to contest any of the charges at the meeting on the 21st and that Symonds and Briatore had already left the team with the team saying that Briatore had opted to resign with him saying that he was just trying to save the team, that was all. Regardless, the FIA went and confirmed that yes, the World Motorsport Council Meeting would still be going ahead and that Renault could still face sanctions.
10:20
ilar incident happened before:10:53
Flavio Briatore was indefinitely banned from FIA-sanctioned events. Briatore had refused to admit that he had been involved in the scheme which was why the Council had decided to give him such a harsh punishment. Pat Symonds, on the other hand, was given a five-year ban since he’d admitted his involvement and expressed his regret over the whole situation. A huge contributing factor to the sanctions for Briatore and Symonds was the statement from Witness X, an employee for Renault who had been there at the pre race meeting where the plan was being discussed but didn’t want to go along with it.
11:29
Fernando Alonso was officially cleared of any wrongdoing since the FIA wasn’t able to find any evidence that he or his side of the garage had known anything about the planned crash.
11:40
to Witness X. And in January:12:21
until:12:51
Fast forward to December:13:30
Even though Nelson Piquet Jr had come away from Crashgate without even a slap on the wrist from the FIA, a lot of people in F1 had criticised his involvement. Martin Brundle had said that his part in Crashgate had made him unemployable in F1 and that no team was going to want to be associated with the Piquet family. And he wasn't the only one that was vocal on this subject. Christian Horner, who was the TP of Red Bull back in the day, had said that he didn’t think Red Bull Racing would have any interest in Nelson Piquet Jr.
14:03
In:15:12
ks he has a chance to get the:15:50
sa should be the champion for:16:11
After that interview had come out, Felipe Massa was reported to have started to investigate whether he would be able to take legal action. Lewis had won the championship by a single point. And had managed to pick up an extra six points in Singapore, while Felipe had left with none having finished in P13. So, if Felipe could null and void the results of Singapore, it would mean that he would be able to get the championship aaaand I have to admit, this feels like a bit of a long shot. 15 years later to try and overturn those results. I think a lot of people would question why he didn’t take action sooner. Especially if he’d had his suspicions from the get-go. He would need evidence that what Bernie Eccleston was saying is in fact the truth but Max Mosley is no longer alive to agree or dispute those comments and how much solid, written evidence is there that both of them knew what had gone on? Why would anyone want to keep documentation like that, which would be incriminating? So right now, it just seems like a lot of hearsay.
17:19
ould try and refute Abu Dhabi:18:20
And that just about sums up the events of Crashgate and why it’s been brought back to the attention of F1 fans 15 years later. For me, this feels even crazier than Spygate because Renault were really willing to sacrifice one half of their team for the other which is just insane to me. Like I know we talk about teams nowadays having a first and second driver and giving team orders but I couldn’t imagine them wanting one of their drivers to crash on purpose to benefit the other side of the garage. And also for a driver to go along with it. For e, I think this is the craziest thing about this all. THat Nelson Piquet Jr. was so willing to go on with this and wreck his own race. I don't know why any driver would willingly go through that. Especially now with a cost cap. I really don't think any teams are gonna want drivers to crashing and costing them more in parts and repairs. But this is just an absolutely crazy story to me.
19:17
There isn’t going to be an episode next week, I’m sorry! So, I won’t be covering Baku and my reaction to the race on here since I’m going to be away. But, keep an eye on my TikTok @stewards_office or on my Instagram which has the same handle because hopefully, I’ll be posting some of my race reactions on there! So, you can get your fill of the Steward's Office content somewhere.
19:42
Thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure you follow this podcast so you get an update whenever there’s a new episode. And I’ll see you guys the next time you’re summoned to the Steward’s Office.
