![Piquet Jnr: They [Briatore & Symonds] treated me like a dog](http://dailysportingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/briatore-piquet-alosno-renault-f1-crashgate.jpg "Piquet Jnr: They [Briatore & Symonds] treated me like a dog")
Nelson Piquet Jnr aka Nelsinho has lifted the lid on the ‘Crashgate’ scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the former Formula 1 driver speaking out in more detail about the most putrid incident in our sport’s illustrious history.
A decade and a half later, the spotlight returns on the saga as Felipe Massa contemplates going to court to have Lewis Hamilton’s F1 title of that year annulled and, instead, the Brazilian to be the 2008 F1 World Champion.
Clearly, that should never happen but the fact that Massa is even thinking along those lines is ill-advised and hardly going to win him any friends, if his case is even reinvestigated by the FIA or a court of law, it will create a precedent whereby just about every F1 championship title will come under attack. It will never happen of course…
But times are quiet on the news front during this far too early F1 break, so why not start a fire, which indeed was lit with this whole affair, sparking Piquet Jnr’s emergence on the F1 landscape, albeit for the forgettable reasons of his direct involvement in the plot and its execution.
Nevertheless what he has to say comes as no surprise, considering the involvement of wheeler-dealer, smooth-talking, charlatan Flavio Briatore and his henchman, at the time, Pat Symonds as the pair led Renault down the garden path, culminating with lashings of huge embarrassment when the scandal broke, that sent the French manufacturer into hiding for a few years. They had been bitten by the biggest piranha in the tank.
But all these years the scars remain, particularly for Brazilian race driver Piquet Jnr. whose future in F1 and indeed FIA sanctioned races ended when he came out, a year later, with revelations of a rigged race, and direct orders from Flav and Pat (desperate to keep Renault interested in funding the team) to crash into the wall, to advantage their star driver – Fernando Alonso – who duly won the race, supposedly oblivious to the shenanigans that gifted him the win, until Nelsinho came clean ten months later.
Of course, history shows in 2009 Alonso was exonerated by a subsequent FIA investigation in which it was found that Piquet Jnr. did as commanded – crash the car during the race – by Briatore who, along with Symonds, was banned for five years.
Piquet Jnr: Yes, Crashgate was a mistake but…
In an interview with Pelas Pistas Podcast, Piquet Jnr. recalled that fateful Sunday in Singapore 15 years ago: “It was a team order to help someone [Alonso] within our team, it was not to harm Felipe Massa, it was nothing like that.”
Which pours cold water on the unlikely conspiracy theory that Crashgate was instigated to gift Hamilton the 2008 F1 title!
Nelsinho admitted: “Yes, it was a mistake but, in the position I was in, dreaming of being in F1 for so many years… In that dream, we did not even consider having someone accompany me with negotiations.
“A lawyer, a manager… but it hast to be like that. My father [three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet] did not go to any race the first year. I only had Flavio, who was the team director and my manager. Not only mine, but that of six other drivers on the grid, so I was “just a figure” like all the others. They were [Mark] Webber, [Heikki] Kovalainen, [Fernando] Alonso, [Giancarlo] Fisichella, [Jarno] Trulli… And then, there was that grotesque Briatore manner, it’s not just how it is on TV: it’s even worse. And I was alone.”
Singapore in late September 2008 was Piquet Jnr’s 15th race in the top flight; teammate to Alonso who returned tail between his legs after a disastrous year with McLaren (Hamilton’s teammate) and thanks to his titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, and despite his defection and return, the Spaniard remained the number one driver.
I had the feeling that everything was going backwards
He continued: “Singapore arrived, by which time they had put me psychologically against the wall and I had no guidance… Many people ask me: Would you do it again? My normal answer is: No, obviously not. But at that age, under that pressure… You don’t have anyone there with you, except a bully and bully like Briatore, always complaining, always pushing, always threatening: This is your last chance
“I had the feeling that everything was going backwards because I was supposed to have done more tests, I heard that I would be replaced by a driver not as strong as Alonso, Kovalainen. So yes, I made a mistake.”
With the benefit of hindsight, now a decade and a half later, what would Nelsinho do under the circumstances at the time, he said: “What I wouldn’t do again is embark on F1 alone. The psychology of the driver, when he enters F1, is very sensitive.
“He has to feel very confident. When he loses that confidence, it is something very delicate and very difficult to recover. A driver needs someone to look out for their needs and well-being. That’s the most important thing I didn’t have, so it destabilized me in such a way that sometimes people don’t understand everything I went through there… the pressure and the horrible situation.
Grosjean is going to take your place
But F1’s biggest cheating scandal only blew up the following year. Piquet remained with Renault for 2009 alongside Alonso, but by Round 11 in Hungary (his last race for the team and in F1) the team had lined up young hot shot Romain Grosjean [also managed by that man Flav] to step up, a Frenchman (albeit of Swiss descent) bought Briatore more time with Renault, who were eying the door ever since Alonso departed for McLaren in 2007.
Piquet Jnr. described the final episode of the Crashgate saga: “We stayed for 2009 and then the story came out because they broke my contract, which they weren’t supposed to do. I was supposed to run all year and all of a sudden they said: Now, Grosjean is going to take your place to which I said: You can’t do that.”
Referencing Renault F1 bosses of the time, Briatore and Symonds, Piquet recalled: “They treated me like a dog. And that’s when I said: Since you’re kicking me out thinking I’m trash, I think we need to set the record straight here.
“That’s when everyone really found out about the story, which was horrible for me. It was very traumatizing, and it still is many times, because a lot of people don’t understand it and a lot of people judge without understanding the story.”
As for his former teammate Alonso, enjoying a resurgence in F1 at the age of 41 with Aston Martin, Piquet said: “If you think Fernando is incredible in 2023, imagine how good the guy was 15 years ago!”
Piquet Jnr. remains racing in Brazil, contesting his homeland’s premier tin-top series, Stock Car Pro Series racing a Toyota for Crown Racing/TMG where he does battle with fellow ex-F1 drivers such as Massa, Rubens Barrichello and Ricardo Zonta as well as Indycar legend Tony Kanaan.
In closing it’s worth noting that Nelsinho’s replacement – Grosjean – flopped alongside Alonso at Renault. Crash-happy young Romain did himself no favours when in Singapore, in 2009, when the whole Crashgate saga really broke, he crashed his car at almost the same spot, PK had done 12 months earlier! Unbelievable, and of course, who was the F1’s most frequent crasher until very recently? Man! Karma can be a bitch!
