Renault's big boo boo

I never really thought I’d actually be among the first few people to spot foul play at Formula 1’s first ever night race! But then, here we are, a year later and all the pieces are falling into place. Nelsinho Piquet may have been a good driver in his junior days but he never really shone in F1. Crash after crash, he failed to make even an inkling of an impression on the Formula 1 grid but he did make a huge contribution to the Renault team last year. A contribution that, in hindsight may have been the deciding factor for Fernando Alonso to have continued with the team that brought him his two World Championships for another season in 2009.

And then recently, Piquet let it all out. What had remained as one of the most closely guarded secrets of Renault’s F1 empire was thrown open to scrutiny and is now what has popularly come to be known as ‘Crashgate’. Personally, if all that talk about Renault deliberately having Piquet crash to hand over the Singapore GP to Alonso in a calculated strategy is true, I think it’s a huge shame not only to F1, but to motorsport in general. I’d like to believe that Flavio Briatore wasn’t as near-sighted as this whole situation is making him out to be and that Piquet’s crash was indeed an accident. What’s up with Briatore and Symonds leaving Renault then? That isn’t really helping last hopes of the Renault fans much now, is it? In the wake of the controversy and the last few rounds of the F1 Championship though, 2 things are pretty clear. First, you won’t be hearing the name ‘Piquet’ in Formula 1 for a while now, and second, it will now almost be certain that Alonso will be looking to park his talented back side in the seat of another manufacturer’s car. Will it be one of the new teams then? Only time will tell…