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| Singapore |
The Singapore GP is legendary even though it is one of the newer tracks. It was the first night grand prix and it is also known for the "crashgate" scandal.
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| Nelson Piquet Jr. crashes into the wall on purpose. |
Crashgate was perpetrated by the Renault F1 team who ordered Nelson Piquet, Jr. to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in order to gain an advantage for Fernando Alonso who was his teammate at the time.
On 28 September 2008, on the 14th lap of the Singapore race, Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. This allowed Alonso to make an early pitstop and subsequently gain the advantage to win the race after starting 15th on the grid. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake.
After being dropped by the Renault team following the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Piquet alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, sparking an investigation of Renault F1 for race fixing by the FIA. After the investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy on September 4th, and were to answer the charge on September 21st 2009.
On 28 September 2008, on the 14th lap of the Singapore race, Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. This allowed Alonso to make an early pitstop and subsequently gain the advantage to win the race after starting 15th on the grid. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake.
After being dropped by the Renault team following the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Piquet alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, sparking an investigation of Renault F1 for race fixing by the FIA. After the investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy on September 4th, and were to answer the charge on September 21st 2009.
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| Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet Jr. |
On September 16th Renault stated that they would not contest the charges, and announced that the team's managing director, Flavio Briatore, and it's executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, had left the team.
On September 21st it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, whilst Symonds received a five-year ban. Their bans were subsequently overturned by a French court, although they both agreed not to work in Formula One or FIA-sanctioned events for a specified time as part of a later settlement reached with the FIA.
Last year the Singapore Grand Prix was the race were I knew that Vettel is going to be the champion again in 2012 and it seems that he will be in 2013 as well. Let's hope next year will be more interesting.
On September 21st it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, whilst Symonds received a five-year ban. Their bans were subsequently overturned by a French court, although they both agreed not to work in Formula One or FIA-sanctioned events for a specified time as part of a later settlement reached with the FIA.
Last year the Singapore Grand Prix was the race were I knew that Vettel is going to be the champion again in 2012 and it seems that he will be in 2013 as well. Let's hope next year will be more interesting.
This year the "drama" might just spice up the grid a bit. Massa doesn't care about helping Alonso anymore, Hulkenberg and a few others are really trying to show their skills to keep their F1 seats or to get a better ones.
Lotus is checking out Massa at the moment and there he has one more reason to show everybody that he is still fast. The media had just asked him "Are you faster than Alonso?" He laughed and said "YES". I hope Massa will step up this weekend and show the world that he is still a super driver.
And now what I think will happen this weekend:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton
The Top 3 on Sunday
- Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
- Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus
Surprise: Felipe Massa, Ferrari
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