Briatore & Symonds out of Renault F1 Team

Flavio Briatore has left his position as boss of the Renault team after they decided not to contest charges of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Executive director of engineering Pat Symonds has also left the team.

Renault were summoned by governing body, the FIA, after Nelson Piquet Jr claimed he had been asked to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso's race.

An FIA spokesperson confirmed a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on Monday would go ahead.

Renault have been called to answer charges that they "conspired with Nelson Piquet Jr to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso".

The hearing will attempt to attribute responsibility for the Singapore "crash-gate" despite the news that Briatore and Symonds have left Renault.

The FIA could still impose sanctions if Renault are found guilty, including excluding the team from the championship, although that must be considered unlikely given the two people Piquet said were responsible have now left the team.

Piquet crashed in Singapore two laps after Alonso had come in for a routine pit stop.

That meant that when race officials sent out the safety car to clear up the debris from Piquet's car, Alonso was alone among the front-runners in not having to stop for fuel and tyres.

Renault's double world champion went on to take the chequered flag at Formula 1's inaugural night race and claim his first victory in two years.

At the time, Piquet attributed the crash to a simple error, but after being dropped by the team after July's Hungary GP the race-fixing allegations emerged.

The Brazilian has since testified to the FIA that he was instructed by Briatore and Symonds when and where to crash.

Renault's response was to accuse the 24-year-old and his father Nelson Piquet of false allegations and blackmail, going as far as saying they would begin legal action against them.

But on Wednesday the team said in a statement they would "not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix."

The statement added: "The team also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team."

BBC pundit and former team boss Eddie Jordan said he was surprised by Renault's announcement but believes it was effectively an admission of guilt.

"By suggesting they are not going to contest the allegations is in itself an admission," Jordan told the BBC.

"I don't know what goes on in teams and certainly in the Jordan team you would contemplate all sorts of things but you certainly couldn't contemplate that."

It remains to be seen whether this latest controversy, and the departure of Briatore and Symonds, will affect Renault's decision to stay in Formula 1.

Briatore had denied speculation that the French team's future was under threat and the team have signed a new Concorde Agreement to stay in F1 until 2012.

But this latest controversy, coupled with a decline in cars sales, could yet have repercussions for the staff of around 700, who are are employed at the team's headquarters in Enstone, in Oxfordshire, and Viry-Chatillon in Paris.

Former grand prix winner John Watson told the BBC: "The fact that Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have left the team was the only solution to Renault.

"A company on the scale of Renault, a world-scale motor company could not afford to have a scandal of this magnitude rattling around in the boardroom."

As it is, Renault's statement draws the curtain on two of F1's best-known protagonists.

Briatore became Benetton team principal in 1991 and when Renault bought Benetton in 2000 to run under its own moniker, the 59-year-old Italian was chosen to lead the team.

Symonds joined the Toleman team, which morphed into Benetton and Renault, in the 1980s and worked his way though the ranks becoming executive director of engineering in 2001.

Briatore was also heavily involved in the teams' association Fota, as it sought to reach an agreement on the future of the sport with the FIA this season.

Renault may quit Formula One over new cheating claim

Nelson Piquet Jr has been accused of crashing his car in the 2008 Singapore race to help team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The FIA examination of last year's Singapore grand prix could lead to Renault quitting Formula One if their team is found guilty of interfering with the result of the floodlit race's inaugural running.

Although not mentioning Renault by name, the sport's governing body is likely to take a closer look at the race following the acquisition of fresh evidence. During the broadcast of Sunday's Belgian grand prix, the Brazilian network Globo TV reportedly said it had received information that Nelson Piquet Jr had been asked to crash on purpose and trigger the sequence of events that led to his team‑mate, Fernando Alonso, moving from the back to the front of the field and scoring a win that went against form in the previous 14 races. A spokeswoman for the ING Renault F1 Team said today that there would be no comment.
Renault have been at the forefront of rumours that they would be the next to pull out of F1 following the withdrawal of Honda and BMW. The French manufacturer was considering quitting last year but Alonso's win in Singapore, and victory at the next race in Japan, secured the team's short-term future. Renault's best finish this year has been fifth place in Spain, an unsatisfactory result that could accelerate the decision to pull out should an inquiry find against the British-based team. If the FIA feels there is a case to answer, Renault could be called before the World Motor Sport Council and, if found guilty, face a heavy fine or even expulsion.

When Piquet crashed on the 14th of 61 laps and sprayed debris across the track, the incident prompted the appearance of the safety car and caused every team bar Renault to immediately rethink their pit-stop strategy. A period of slow laps behind the safety car is the ideal time to refuel without losing an excessive amount of time. Renault were the exception because Alonso had refuelled three laps before Piquet's crash and rejoined at the back of the field. As the 18 cars running ahead of the former world champion made their pit stops, Alonso moved to the front.
The question is: was Piquet ordered to crash or was the accident a handy coincidence for a team under pressure to score their first win of 2008? If it was the former, then Piquet was either incompetent or extremely brave. The heavy collision with the concrete wall lining the street circuit destroyed the right-hand side of the Renault and risked injury. Had Piquet wished to prompt the safety car, it would only have required a slightly more dramatic version of the incident employed by Michael Schumacher in 2005 when he parked his Ferrari against the barrier in Monte Carlo and hampered the progress of rivals during the closing minutes of qualifying. Schumacher was demoted to the back of the grid. A spokesmen for Piquet said he would be making no comment.

The investigation comes less than two weeks after an angry Piquet referred to Flavio Briatore as his "executioner" after being sacked by the boss of Renault F1 and replaced by the Frenchman Romain Grosjean. Ferrari were accused of interfering with the result of the 2002 Austrian grand prix when Rubens Barrichello was ordered to move over in the final 100 metres and allow Schumacher to win. Ferrari were not reprimanded but the FIA banned team orders. The Singapore incident, if deliberate, is much more serious due to the risk of debris injuring other drivers and, possibly, spectators.

Nelson Piquet sacked from ING renault F1 team

Piquet, sacked by Renault, attacks Briatore

Nelson Piquet has been sacked by Renault after failing to pick up any points for the French team this season, the 24-year-old Brazilian announced on his personal website on Monday.
Nelson Piquet has been sacked by Renault after failing to pick up any points for the French team this season, the 24-year-old Brazilian announced on his personal website on Monday.
Piquet, without a win in 28 races, said in a strongly worded statement that he was disappointed at losing the drive and criticised his treatment by Renault supremo Flavio Briatore.
He described his time with Renault as the worst period of his career and said he now wanted to start afresh and prove his driving credentials with a new team.
"I want to say thanks to the small group who supported me and that I worked together at Renault F1, although it is obviously with great disappointment that I receive such news," Piquet, whose father won the world championship three times, said.
"But, at the same time, I feel a sense of relief for the end of the worst period of my career, and the possibility that I can now move on and put my career back on the right track and try to recover my reputation of a fast, winning driver.
"I am a team player and there are dozens of people I have worked with in my career who would vouch for my character and talent, except unfortunately the person that has had the most influence on my career in Formula 1."
Piquet was making reference there to Briatore, his team boss and manager.
Piquet accused the flamboyant Italian of unfair behaviour in his time driving alongside two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
"On numerous occasions, fifteen minutes before qualifying and races, my manager and team boss (Briatore) would threaten me, telling me if I didn't get a good result, he had another driver ready to put in my place.
"I have never needed threats before to get results. In 2008 I scored 19 points, finished once on the podium in second place, having the best debut year of a Brazilian driver in F1."
Piquet said that despite promises from Briatore that things would be different in 2009, nothing changed.
"Unfortunately, the promises didn't turn into reality again," he claimed, going on to call some of the situations he has had to deal with in the past two years as "strange".
In a final swipe at Briatore he concluded: "I always believed that having a manager was being a part of a team and having a partner. A manager is supposed to encourage you, support you, and provide you with opportunities. In my case it was the opposite. Flavio Briatore was my executioner."

FIA Thursday Press Conference - Brazil

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Honda), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Nelson Piquet (Renault)

Q: Nelson, what are your experiences of the Interlagos track? How much racing have you done here?

Nelson Piquet: To be honest not much. It is going to be like arriving at the track like I arrived in Australia or China. I did one race with my father back in 2005 if I remember. It was in an Aston Martin in a 12-hour race and that was it. When I started my F3 career here the first season we didn’t have any races here and then I went straight to England, so I don’t have much experience but I think motivation and the crowd will help me.

Q: You have had some good races recently. What chances do you think you have of holding onto the seat next year?

NP: I think I have a good chance. The team is quite happy. I mean all the boys are on my side, so I don’t see any reasons why I would be under threat. It has been a tough season obviously but I am learning a lot and improving a lot and discovering a lot of new things. It has been a tough year but I am sure we will be okay.

Q: So you are quite hopeful or confident would you say?

NP: Confident.

Q: David, what are your emotions coming into this race?

David Coulthard: I guess I should be emotional but I think it will be more on Sunday when I realise when I step out of the car, hopefully after the chequered flag, for the last time that this part of my life has come to an end. It is difficult for anyone sitting around this table, apart from Rubens who has been doing it for longer than me, to imagine what that might be like. But I am not stopping because I don’t love driving grand prix cars or I don’t love racing but I recognise that my journey has reached its natural conclusion, so when I walk out of the paddock on Sunday that will be it.

Q: You have a special livery on the car. Tell us about that.

DC: Yeah, it is great that at the last grand prix we had permission from all the teams to run my car in an independent livery which I think is a first in this modern era of Formula One. I am sure it might have happened decades ago. The teams have agreed for me to run with the ‘Wings for Life’ foundation colours which is a foundation that was started in 2004 to promote research into spinal cord injuries. I think in a lot of cases people imagine that it is extreme sports where most people are suffering from those sorts of injuries but the statistics show it is actually only about three per cent of the injuries that come from extreme sports. All of the other injuries, which is about 130,000 people a year find themselves confined to a wheelchair through household injuries, car crashes, everyday life. Currently there is very little government funding for this type of research and the pharmaceutical companies are not interested, of course, as you can’t buy a pill to cure spinal cord injury. It was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz who obviously is the founder of Red Bull and Heinz Kinigadner whose son suffered a spinal cord injury in a motorbike accident. All of the money that is raised through public donations goes to fund various institutions throughout the world and works with other foundations, like the Christopher Reeve Foundation, to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Q: David, you have seen many World Championships decided. What are your thoughts about this one?

DC: Well, I have been asked this a lot coming up to this race, so I will say in front of the two championship contenders what I have said to the media. With a seven point lead Lewis is the most likely to achieve the championship. I think that is quite clear. He has led the championship for the majority of the season and it should be a formality. For me Felipe is the most improved driver of the season. We have always known that he has speed, but some of his drivers this year and notably Budapest, which ultimately he wasn’t able to win that race but his pass on Lewis clearly defined himself as one of the most attacking drivers. It was a world class pass and therefore not to sit on the fence but either of these guys for me are truly worthy of this world championship. But you have to say Lewis has the upperhand, so I guess a consolation might be if Felipe wins the grand prix, satisfies the Brazilian crowd, and Lewis comes in with a points’ scoring position. But as we know, anything can happen, so I am as excited to know the outcome as everyone else.

Q: Rubens, your thoughts about the World Championship?

Rubens Barrichello: I think it has been an exciting year. It had its ups and downs but they have been fighting for a long period in quite good battles and I think it is going to be a very good ending. It is just like DC said, Lewis has the upperhand. Sunday, as far as I can see, it can be a wet day, so I think it is going to be really nice for the Brazilians to see how things come out. Thankfully, Felipe, as I have said before, has great chances to win the race which the Brazilians are really hopeful for. It is the only thing he can aim for. He has to win the race and not worry too much about the rest and see what the rest is. As a Brazilian I am really proud that we have the decision once again here as I think Brazilians deserve that.

Q: What about your own future? This is your 16th Brazilian Grand Prix.

RB: I am really proud to be here. It used to be a tough race for me at the beginning, when we lost Ayrton and so on. It was tough with lots of pressure and not a good car. But I have done really well to do just like soccer, when you play at home you play better. I have a wonderful time but the week goes past so quickly now and it is an enjoyment, lots of work but it is really nice to be here, especially for me as I was born just 100 metres away from the main door here and for me it is the best race of the whole year.

Q: And your career next year?

RB: It is on hold, obviously. I don’t want to stop. I won’t stop because I think I deserve better. I am driving better than I used to when I finished second in the championship behind Michael. The aim is not to stop. The job done this year has been quite good. If it wasn’t for minor problems I think I would have more than 20 points with a car we can see is not good at all. What I have been telling people is that I cannot sell the experience or the speed as that is a proven point. They see that and they see all the statistics. But what I can sell is my motivation. I am very honest with myself and the day I feel that I don’t have it anymore is the day I will stop, but up until now I have been driving better than ever. It is on hold as Honda wants to try some other people, test them in Barcelona. To be very honest I think they try to change the destiny of things as if they want to win by next year they need someone who is very experienced with my qualities to do it. But I am on hold. I am hopeful. I am talking to other teams as well, so hopefully it will be fine.

Q: Lewis and Felipe. A question to both of you. We have heard about the pressure. Going back to the early part of your career, how does that pressure when you were eight years old weigh up to the pressure you are feeling now?

Lewis Hamilton: For me I think it quite similar to every championship you do. For me it is just another race, that’s the way to approach it to myself and that’s how I did it in the past. It is exciting. Everyone enjoys the last race, for sure. It is great for the spectators, it is great for the fans, for the media, for the team, for everyone. We will give it the best shot we can as a team collectively and hopefully we can come out on top.

Felipe Massa: I think it is very similar. When you are racing it doesn’t matter whether you are in Formula One or in go-karts, whatever category you are. When you get inside the car you are thinking about racing. You are not thinking I am in Formula One, it is the most important motorsport. You don’t think about that, you think about racing. You think about doing your best and fighting, so for me it is exactly the same fighting for the championship in Formula One or for victory or whatever if you are fighting in a go-kart. When you are in a go-kart you want to win. It is your dream. Your motivation is to win that race or that championship. You don’t think about Formula One as you live for that moment. That’s why it is the same now. You want to win now. For sure, you have much more expectation and pressure but when you are driving you don’t think about that.

Q: Another question to both of you. What does it mean to have your families with you? What do you draw from them?

FM: I think having the family together is very important. I have always had my family together in my career. In go-kart and the other categories it was a little bit more difficult as I didn’t have so much money for them to go to the race. But at least I always had them very close to me, talking on the phone almost every day. I think it is very important as when you are happy in your private life, when you have a good family, I think it makes your professional life even better. When you get inside the car you don’t put in all the problems that you have outside. I think it is always very nice. They don’t come to every race but they come a lot and I feel very happy. For sure I don’t follow so much the advice from my mum, otherwise I would go very slow!

LH: I think as you can see I always have my family with me. I always have a part of my family with me and I know I have all my family’s support and that is what is important. I know they are proud of me and they have worked just as hard as I have to get me here today. So when I come here it is not about me, it is about us as a team together. They pretty much come to all the races, not so much the international races as it is lot of time for my brother off school. Without my family I would not be here today, so it is great we are able to share the experience throughout the season.

Q: Lewis, how important is the Constructors’ championship to you? Is there a bit of a conflict of interest there?

LH: Not really. It is quite simple really, we are here to win. We don’t have to win, so that is a pressure off our shoulders. We come here with a strong package and with a hope that we can challenge for a win and we will do the best job we can. We have not come here to finish further down the order but we obviously know that it is not do or die. It would be great for the team to win. I think the team deserve it as they have worked so hard. When you think about all the people that collectively made the two cars competitive throughout the season with a remarkable reliability. It is just down to the solid job and it would be great to give them the championship. We will do the best job we can and see what the result is.

Alonso Worried by Bad Luck and Lack of Traction

The Spanish Renault driver did a good job in qualifying, but was unable to sustain his form in the race and fell down the running order after losing most of his key car-to-car battles.
Alonso had notable problems pulling away from the hairpin and said afterwards that this weakness is unlikely to be resolved this year with the current car.

He said he believed that this meant he had an opportunity now to use up all of his bad luck so that he could have a clear misfortune-free season in 2009. "I hope we use all the bad luck in the remaining races of the season and next year we don't have any," he said. "I was very lucky in 2005, 2006 and 2007. This year I'm being very unlucky and you can see it every race. I wish that in Hungary I'm unlucky again -- I'm used to it now."

He added: "The problem we have with the traction is worrying for me. When we are fighting wheel to wheel and we try to pass someone, we just lose too much out of the slow corners and then we can't make up the ground on the straight."

Asked what the solution might be, he said: "Wait a year..." But the Spaniard was happy to see his team-mate Brazilian Nelson Piquet make the most of a one-stop strategy and a Safety Car intervention to finish second, on the podium for the first time. My poor FERRRNANDOH!

The MISUS

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton wins German GP in Hockenheim

Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix twice, once at a canter, the second time in a blaze of insane wizardry. Ferrari must be wondering what they have to do to keep him in check. The answer might be to test Hamilton for EPO.
If this were the Tour de France fingers would be pointing at the drugs cabinet. But this is Formula One and underneath him Hamilton has a serious piece of kit. What alchemy McLaren have worked to deliver a machine as potent as this. Felipe Massa looked like he had seen a ghost after going under the Hamilton hammer.

Lewis Hamilton made good use of his ninth start from pole
For half the race Hamilton was coasting to victory. Then, after been shot in the foot by what looked a poor call from the McLaren pit wall not to come in under the safety car, Hamilton ripped back the initiative as if those in front were not there.
A lazy Sunday afternoon was passing without incident at the half way stage, at which point Hamilton had coasted from pole into an 11-second lead. He has worked harder on the Playstation. Then on lap 36 Timo Glock introduced himself to the German audience with a heavy shunt at the entry to the start finish straight.
Toyota were unable to determine the cause in the immediate aftermath. As Glock powered through the final turn he drifted slightly wide then a vicious spin took him backwards into a wall. The impact was fatal for his car and left the driver limping awkwardly from the wreckage. Thankfully his discomfort was temporary. A visit to the medical centre revealed no damage to Glock's personal chassis.
The incident took us back to Canada, where Hamilton last lost a commanding lead as a result of an accident and the introduction of the safety car. In Montreal he was jumped in the pits and clattered expensively into the stationary Kimi Raikkonen at the pit exit.
On this occasion Hamilton stayed out. Who knows by what mathematical matrix the McLaren number-crunchers had reached that conclusion? It was not the best decision ever made. His front running rivals shot in to refuel to the end of the race. When the safety car retreated five laps later with 26 still to negotiate, Hamilton was left needing to make up at least 23 seconds, sufficient time to refuel and come out with his lead in tact. He could not have pulled that off in Concorde.
Massa, who dropped to sixth from second, had sacrificed places but gained vital time as the cars bunched behind the safety car. Hamilton was lapping more than a second quicker at the restart but stayed out only nine laps, time to build a lead of 13 seconds. When he returned to the track he was running fifth and behind Massa's Ferrari.
Nick Heidfeld, another unfortunate who opted not to come in under the safety car, refuelled to give Hamilton one place back. On the three left in front, Hamilton went to work. He transformed the hairpin at turn six into an execution site. First team-mate Heikki Kovalainen gave way leaving 15 laps to claim Massa and Nelson Piquet, a random beneficiary of the safety car lottery.
Massa capitulated ten laps out, Piquet with seven to go. It was glorious stuff for Hamilton lovers; painful for the massed ranks of Ferrari followers, for whom this was telling evidence of a performance advantage shredded.
The chequered flag signalled the eighth victory of Hamilton's career, his second back-to-back haul and conferred a four-point advantage over Massa in the race for the championship. With eight races remaining Ferrari appear relatively at sea. Massa could make no impression on the Renault of Piquet, who benefitted form a welcome slice of luck when the safety car co-incided with his scheduled stop. The result, the first podium of his career, marked the only time that two Brazilians have finished in the top three since his father shared the honour with Ayrton Senna 17 years ago.
Massa complained of a lack of speed. His team-mate Raikkonen struggled all weekend to find anything like the right balance and finished sixth. Despite the shortfall to McLaren, were it not for the safety car Massa would have had too much for the rest of the field.
A month ago in Magny-Cours it was Ferrari who had everyone else scratching heads. McLaren have happened across a Eureka moment somewhere. Hamilton had pace to burn and powers towards the season's climax the man to beat.
Next up is Hungary, where Hamilton posted a controversial win a year ago and with it buried Fernando Alonso's short McLaren career. Before that the teams repair to Jerez for the next round of testing; a time for Ferrari to regroup and fathom a response to Hamilton.

Robert Kubica Wins Canadian Grand Prix

Robert Kubica made a triumphant return to Canada on Sunday, storming to his maiden grand prix victory exactly a year after suffering a horrific crash on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Pole led a shock BMW Sauber one-two in Montreal after pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton took himself and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen out of the fray in an early pit lane collision.
Nick Heidfeld took second place and Red Bull's David Coulthard was third but the day belonged to Kubica, now four points clear at the top of the world championship.

"It is fantastic to win for BMW Sauber," he said. "We grew up together and thanks to the team for providing a good car - we managed to do first and second.
"Winning in Canada where I had big shunt last season and achieving the goal to win a grand prix this season... We have done it and I'm leading the championship, so I hope the team will give me 100 percent support to defend it until last race.
"It's fantastic for me, the team, my country and my fans. It was a great race. It is always chaotic here with the safety car and it is not easy. I have never struggled so much before, I was pushing so hard."
The win was the first by a team other than McLaren and Ferrari since October 2006 and fulfilled the BMW Sauber's pre-season ambition to win their first Formula One race.

Toyota's German Timo Glock took fourth place, the best result of his first full Formula One season and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa did well to claim a highly eventful fifth.
The Brazilian now joins Hamilton in second place in the driver's title race.
Italian Jarno Trulli completed a good day for the Toyota team with sixth place with Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel filling the other point-scoring positions.
The race started amidst serious concerns over the state of the circuit. Patches of the track surface had crumbled badly during qualifying on Saturday and although running repairs were made overnight, many in the paddock were expecting trouble.
Those concerns translated into a generally cautious attitude amongst the drivers and the start passed without incident.
Nico Rosberg did manage to slip his Williams into fourth place around the outside of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the second corner; but it was a clean getaway for Hamilton's McLaren, Kubica and Raikkonen who started first, second and third respectively.
Raikkonen began to put Kubica under serious pressure, the Finn quickly setting the fastest lap of the race, but Hamilton was moving well clear in front.
His lead was erased though, when the safety car was deployed after German Adrian Sutil's Force India car caught fire.
As the field bunched up, the leaders ducked into the pits to refuel. Raikkonen and Kubica emerged from the garage ahead of Hamilton, but were held up by a red-light at the end of the pit lane.
Inexplicably, Hamilton did not realise that his two rivals were stationary ahead of him and after pulling away from his garage he barrelled into the back of Raikkonen ending his own race and that of the reigning world champion.
"I don't know what happened to be honest," Hamilton said. "I was comfortably in the lead, it was looking like an easy win. Then I went in for the pit stop. It was not a good stop and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane.
"I saw the red light but by that time it was a bit late. It was not exactly a racing incident as such, it was unfortunate.
"It was one of those things. It is different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry. It is not like that. I apologise to Kimi for ruining his race."
Rosberg was also caught up in the incident and though he was able to continue after some hasty repairs to his front wing, his chances of a points finish were ruined.
Heidfeld was now leading the grand prix, with Barrichello and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima lying second and third.
Heidfeld, his one-stop strategy working perfectly, soon pitted and could not stay ahead of Kubica who had emerged unscathed from the pit lane chaos. Kubica knew he would need one more fuel stop, so he pushed his BMW to the absolute limit to establish a significant margin between himself and his teammate.
With 22 laps remaining the Pole pitted for the final time, emerging safely in front of Heidfeld.
Scottish veteran Coulthard was now in third place with a mad scramble for points unfolding behind him.
There was no catching Kubica though, and there were scenes of joy in the BMW garage as he crossed the finish line to become the first ever Polish grand prix winner.

Renault launches new R28 car for F1 season

Even Renault agrees: its 2007 Formula One car was a lemon.

The French team hopes that will change this year with the return of two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso and its new R28 car that it launched Thursday.

Alonso is happy to be back with Renault after a turbulent season with McLaren, but conceded they will mostly be chasing podium places as it will be difficult to close the gap on Ferrari and McLaren.

"We have to be realistic," the Spaniard said. "If we can win races, that will be a dream come true."

Renault won back-to-back drivers' championships with Alonso in 2005 and '06, but technical director Bob Bell said it was obvious early that the 2007 car was poor so they focused on the 2008 version.
"Our car was pretty much undriveable," Renault team managing director Flavio Briatore said.

Alonso said testing on the new car had been on ensuring it was free of design faults, and that the focus will be on performance in February before the March 16 start to the season at the Australian Grand Prix.

"We need to recover a gap of maybe one second," Alonso said. "Step by step, we really hope to close the gap."

Bell said Alonso had provided "invaluable" input as they fine-tune the new model.

Briatore didn't want to be drawn on Alonso's troubled year at McLaren, saying it wasn't his business, but described the Spaniard as "more mature" than in the past and "very focused."

McLaren released Alonso one year into a three-year deal due to feuds with teammate Lewis Hamilton.

"He's come home," Briatore said of Alonso. "To have him back is fantastic."

Renault No. 2 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. said the team can win the drivers' championship again.

"If they did it once, they can do it again," Piquet said.

Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn turned up at the ING Renault F1 launch in Paris and said that he hoped that the team would do better in 2008 than it did last year. Quoting team principal Flavio Briatore, Ghosn said that the 2007 season had been "a disaster" but added that the team still finished third in the Constructors' Championship, an assessment based on the fact that McLaren was excluded rather than on track performance.

"There are two places in front of that," Ghosn said. "And I have a preference as to which one I want to see."

Ghosn said that the 2008 is going to be an important year for Renault with a lot of new products and he wants F1 to contribute as much as possible to boosting Renault sales.

Briatore said that he is hoping for wins and podiums - and expects to see them.

The engineers say that the problems of 2007 have been fully understood and fixed and that it is their ambition to get back into the hunt for the World Championship.

"We are confident that we are now back on track," said Bob Bell, the Renault technical director. "We have a very aggressive development programme for this year. Fernando Alonso drove the 2007 car recently and said it was a nice car to drive, but it did not have the grip of its rivals. We knew that we had a good product but we simply had a problem with the aerodynamics. It was to do with methodologies and so we had to look not only at the problem itself but also at what was causing it and why we did not discover it earlier."

Renault heads for Mexico

New destination for the Renault Roadshow
Mexico

The next instalment of the Renault F1 Team Roadshow will see the team hit the streets of Mexico City for a spectacular F1 demonstration.

Following on from events in Warsaw, Johannesburg and Rotterdam earlier in 2007, the team will let its cars loose in the streets of one of the biggest cities on the planet next month. The bustle of Mexico City will be brought to a halt as the city reverberates to the sounds of Formula 1 on 13 and 14 October, resplendent in the colours of the Renault F1 Team.

Renault Mexico and the Federal District Government hope to create a truly open and approachable motorsports festival, a vision that chimes perfectly with that of the Renault F1 Team.

A 1.4-kilometre stretch of the Paseo de la Reforma will be closed for the event, giving a total lap length of 2.8 km. The event will give the passionate Mexican public the opportunity to celebrate their passion for Formula 1, which has not visited the country since the 15th and final Mexican Grand Prix was held in 1992. Indeed, who better than Renault to bring the sport back to the country, given that the final race was won from pole by Nigel Mansell in his Williams-Renault, on his way to the French company's first ever world title.

In 2007, the team will be represented by Giancarlo Fisichella and Nelson Piquet Jr.
, who will be at the wheel of the title-winning R26 to put on an unforgettable show for what are expected to be large, enthusiastic crowds!

"I am delighted to be taking part in the Mexico City Roadshow," commented Nelson Piquet Jr. "I have never been to Mexico before, and I think the atmosphere will be fantastic! I'm going to put on a great show for the Mexican people. It has been a while since they last saw what an F1 car can do, and I know they love motorsport over there. It should be a great weekend."

Giancarlo Fisichella added: "I never got a chance to race in Mexico, so I'm looking forward to going there for the first time, and especially because we will be driving the car in one of the biggest cities in the world! The Roadshow events are always a great success, and it is a fantastic way to meet the public and our supporters. My last event was in South Africa, and they gave us a brilliant welcome. I'm looking forward to tasting the atmosphere in Mexico!"