The Piquets, father and junior, have won their libel case against Renault F1 in the ‘Crashgate’ affair. Hopefully this will be the end of a very sad situation in F1, but it is of interest to read that Renault F1 has very publicly admitted their guilt in the sordid machinations in Singapore to ensure a win for Fernando Alonso in 2008.
The press release following the Piquet’s win in the courts of law states, “On 11th September 2009, Renault F1 Team Limited (“the Team”) issued a Press Release, which was repeated on our website, in which we suggested that Nelson Piquet Junior and his father had lied by making false allegations that members of the Team and Nelson Piquet Junior caused a deliberate accident at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
“We also suggested that these lies were invented in order to blackmail the Defendant into allowing Mr Piquet Junior to drive for the Team for the remainder of the 2009 season, and he and his father were therefore guilty of a serious criminal offence.
“The Team accepts – as it did before the World Motor Sport Council (“WMSC”) of the FIA and as found by the WMSC in its decision of 21 September 2009 – that the allegations made by Nelson Piquet Junior were not false. It also accepts that Mr Piquet Junior and his father did not invent these allegations in order to blackmail the Team.
“As a result, these serious allegations contained in the Press Release were wholly untrue and unfounded, and we withdraw them unequivocally. We would like to apologize unreservedly to Mr Piquet Junior and his father for the distress and embarrassment caused as a result.
“As a mark of the sincerity of our apology and regret, we have agreed to pay them a substantial amount of damages for libel as well as their costs, and have undertaken not to repeat these allegations at any time in the future.”
So be it, but it certainly does not right the wrongs that ensued.
