Formula 1 goes to a new Low!
Flavio Briatore, the Renault team chief - along with number two Pat Symonds - will go at once for their alleged role in the "Crashgate" scandal.
The team said it will not dispute claims that Nelson Piquet Jnr was asked to deliberately crash in the 2008 race in Singapore.
The plan, according to Piquet, was to force a safety car on to the track, thus helping team-mate Fernando Alonso win the Grand Prix. Renault said Briatore and executive director of engineering Symonds have left but would not say whether they were sacked.
The hearing into the matter by the sport's ruling FIA will go ahead on Monday but the focus is likely to switch to what sanctions should be applied.
The credibility of sport sunk to a spectacular new low yesterday. If a team boss can persuade someone to crash a racing car at more than 100mph, risking his life and the lives of spectators, what hope is there? That is what Renault concede happened at the Singapore Grand Prix last autumn, when Nelson Piquet Jr claims he smashed into a wall on the instructions of his bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds to help Fernando Alonso win the race.
It makes Harlequins coach Dean Richards asking a player to bite on a blood capsule to fake injury in a vital match look almost reasonable. Are there any lengths to which cheats will not go?
Is there any sport not riddled with dishonesty?
When rugby union turned professional in 1995, many predicted it was only a matter of time until it fell prey to the scrutiny that came with the abandonment of amateurism. Bloodgate proved those cynics right. Sadly, Formula 1's race-fixing scandal and Bloodgate are only two of the recent cheating controversies that have shaken sport to its core.
Football fans, sick of the diving and play-acting in the Premier League, were outraged when Arsenal's Eduardo appeared to dive to win a penalty in the Champions League three weeks ago.
The 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was exposed as a drugs cheat and the 2007 favourite Alexandre Vinokourov also failed a dope test.
Ben Johnson tested posi-tive after winning Olympic gold in 1988. Former Olympic champs Linford Christie, Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones were all exposed as drugs cheats.
And last year, a review of possible match fixing in tennis urged that 45 matches be investigated.
Cricket has many such true stories of match fixing. If cheats will succeed like this, sports may finally lose its credibility!
Courtsy: BBC Sports, Mirror.co.uk
The team said it will not dispute claims that Nelson Piquet Jnr was asked to deliberately crash in the 2008 race in Singapore.
The plan, according to Piquet, was to force a safety car on to the track, thus helping team-mate Fernando Alonso win the Grand Prix. Renault said Briatore and executive director of engineering Symonds have left but would not say whether they were sacked.
The hearing into the matter by the sport's ruling FIA will go ahead on Monday but the focus is likely to switch to what sanctions should be applied.
The credibility of sport sunk to a spectacular new low yesterday. If a team boss can persuade someone to crash a racing car at more than 100mph, risking his life and the lives of spectators, what hope is there? That is what Renault concede happened at the Singapore Grand Prix last autumn, when Nelson Piquet Jr claims he smashed into a wall on the instructions of his bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds to help Fernando Alonso win the race.
It makes Harlequins coach Dean Richards asking a player to bite on a blood capsule to fake injury in a vital match look almost reasonable. Are there any lengths to which cheats will not go?
Is there any sport not riddled with dishonesty?
When rugby union turned professional in 1995, many predicted it was only a matter of time until it fell prey to the scrutiny that came with the abandonment of amateurism. Bloodgate proved those cynics right. Sadly, Formula 1's race-fixing scandal and Bloodgate are only two of the recent cheating controversies that have shaken sport to its core.
Football fans, sick of the diving and play-acting in the Premier League, were outraged when Arsenal's Eduardo appeared to dive to win a penalty in the Champions League three weeks ago.
The 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was exposed as a drugs cheat and the 2007 favourite Alexandre Vinokourov also failed a dope test.
Ben Johnson tested posi-tive after winning Olympic gold in 1988. Former Olympic champs Linford Christie, Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones were all exposed as drugs cheats.
And last year, a review of possible match fixing in tennis urged that 45 matches be investigated.
Cricket has many such true stories of match fixing. If cheats will succeed like this, sports may finally lose its credibility!
Courtsy: BBC Sports, Mirror.co.uk
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