22/09/2009
NEWS STORY
Documents released by the FIA relating to the fixing of the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix reveal that a whistleblower within the Renault F1 team gave evidence against team boss Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.
According to the documents, a fourth person within the team had been aware of the plan for Nelson Piquet to crash on the fourteenth lap of the race, thereby bringing out the Safety Car and turning the race on its head and in favour of Fernando Alonso.
The documents, which refer to the whistleblower as 'Witness X', show that although aware of the plan, having been briefed by Pat Symonds in front of Briatore, the team member had opposed it. Furthermore, the team member wasn't aware that the plan would be carried out until the crash actually happened.
Other than the four, the documents show that the FIA is satisfied that nobody else knew of the plan, though there remain doubts as to who originally suggested it with Symonds and Piquet blaming one another.
Following the interviews of Piquet, Briatore and Symonds the whistleblower is understood to have approached the Renault F1 Team's solicitors, Withers LLP, and claimed that Piquet suggested the idea to Symonds after qualifying, that Symonds mentioned the idea to Briatore, that the strategy - orchestrated by Symonds - was consistent with the conspiracy and that no-one else was involved.
Due to the FIA's obligation in protecting the whistleblower, and the Renault F1 Team's desire not to prevent other whistleblowers coming forward in future, Witness X's true identity is known only by a very select few including Max Mosley, the FIA's Deputy President for Sport (Nick Craw) and its legal team.