F1 - The story of Crashgate

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was the 15th round in what was becoming an absorbing championship fight between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, and too McLaren and Ferrari. It was set to be the first ever F1 race held in Singapore, and more significantly the first ever race held at night in F1 history, something that would become commonplace in years to come (as of 2025 a quarter of the calendar's races are held at night). 

Massa qualified on pole with Hamilton in second, and Raikkonen and Kubica were behind, meaning that the 4 drivers that were left with a championship chance were all in the top 4. Fernando Alonso for the Renault team had shown good pace all weekend, topping 2 practice sessions, but had a mechanical failure in Q2 which meant he only started P15. His teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. was only 16th on the grid, meaning that Renault's woes continued. The team was struggling for performance in 2008, lying 5th in the constructors' and only having scored one podium all season long, and had not won a race for nearly 2 years at this point. The rumor mill was abound with talks of Renault quitting F1 and Alonso leaving Renault for Ferrari due to performance clauses in his contract. Alonso was P7 in the championship and showed his usual pace and consistency to score points but couldn't compete with the likes of BMW, Ferrari or McLaren. Piquet Jr. hadn't shown much pace in the 2nd car and was P13 in the championship, scoring the team's solitary podium at Hockenheim due to a lucky safety car rather than a good drive.

Renault decided to fuel Alonso short for the first stint, primarily hoping for a safety car to have any chance of a result. (This was the strategy that got Piquet Jr. the podium in Germany). Alonso was the first driver to pit on lap 12 and rejoined at the back of the field. On lap 14 Piquet Jr. lost control of his car and hit the wall at Turn 17, bringing out the safety car. In 2008 the safety car rules were different than they were now - the pit lane closed when the safety car was deployed and was only opened again once all the cars were in formation. If you pitted while the pit lane was closed you recieved a 10 second stop-go penalty (even if you were running out of fuel). As a result once the pit lane was open practically every driver of course pitted, which put Alonso P5, but essentially the net leader as Rosberg and Kubica had to serve 10 second penalties, and Trulli and Fisichella were one-stopping. Trulli would eventually retire from the race and Alonso maintained the good pace he had shown in the practice sessions to win his and Renault's first race of 2008, with Rosberg and Hamilton joining him on the podium.

Both Renault and Alonso were delighted with the unexpected win, admitting that the safety car was a stroke of luck but combined with their two-stop strategy at a track where it was difficult to overtake meant that they were in a good position to win. Piquet Jr. blamed his crash on the graining that he was getting on his hard compound tyres as he was pushing for lap time, calling it a "simple mistake". Renault would end the season in strong form, with Alonso winning the next race in Fuji with Piquet P4, and Alonso again scoring a P2 at the season finale in Brazil. This late form propelled Alonso to P5 in the drivers' championship, Piquet Jr. to P12 and Renault to P4 in the constructors' championship. 

Renault kept Alonso for 2009 despite the constant Ferrari rumors and also resigned Piquet Jr. to a one year deal. The new R29 car was a complete dog (ugly as well) and perfomance was basically non-existent. By round 10 Alonso only had 13 points and Piquet Jr. had 0. Piquet Jr. was dropped by Renault and replaced with Romain Grosjean for the remaining rounds. It was a messy departure with both Piquet Jr. and team boss Flavio Briatore criticising each other in the media. 

Following that year's Belgian GP, rumors started to emerge from Brazilian TV that Piquet Jr. had been ordered to crash during the previous year's Singapore race. The FIA then announced a few days later that they were investigating "alleged incidents at a previous F1 event". It was pretty obvious which one they were referring to. 6 days later Renault were formally charged with interfering with the outcome of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and conspiring with Nelson Piquet Jr. to cause a deliberate crash with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of their other driver, Fernando Alonso. Piquet Jr. turned whistleblower and made two statements to the FIA in which he stated that Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds (the two leading figures at the Renault team) told him to crash at a specific corner. In return for providing these statement Piquet Jr. would recieve immunity.

Flavio Briatore initially came out strong against the allegations, stating that he would pursue legal action against Piquet Jr. and his father for "false criminal allegations and a blackmail attempt". However 5 days later Renault announced that they would not be contesting the findings of the investigation and that both Briatore and Symonds would leave the team immediately, which was seen as an admission of guilt. The FIA investigation revealed that Fernando Alonso had no part to play in the matter, and he and his mechanics knew nothing about the scheme. Renault were given a 2 year suspended ban from F1. Pat Symonds was given a 5 year ban from the sport while Flavio Briatore was given a lifetime ban and was also disallowed from representing/managing any drivers in the sport, the harshest sanction ever imposed on someone in the history of motorsport. 

The incident was widely regarded as one of the worst incidents of cheating in not only F1 but also just sport in general. In response to the scandal Renault's title sponsor ING and other main sponsors immediately withdrew their sponsorship of the team, which led to Renault's financial woes continuing after their poor season, and probably also contributed to the team selling to GENII Capital in 2011 to become Lotus. Flavio Briatore decided to sue the FIA to overturn his lifetime ban, and after a drawn out appeal process Briatore and Symonds agreed not to work in F1 until 2013.

So where is everyone involved now? Fernando Alonso eventually did make his move to Ferrari in 2010 and as of 2025 is still racing in Formula One at the age of 44 for Aston Martin. Piquet Jr. never returned to F1 but continued to race in other series and he even won the inagural season of Formula E. Pat Symonds has served in a number of roles across Formula One, and most recently is serving as an engineering consultant ahead for the brand-new Cadillac F1 Team set to join the gird in 2026. Flavio Briatore spent 14 years out of the sport before returning to the Alpine team (same team as Renault) as their Executive Advisor and eventually as of 2025 their team principal in all but name as he does not hold an FIA license. The Renault team became Lotus-Renault in 2011 until going bankrupt in 2015, when Renault stepped in and re-bought the team. They changed identity again in 2021 to Alpine. The teams difficulties continue and they are set to close down their engine factory after 2025 due to rising costs and poor performances.

My thoughts? The incident is one of the worst in F1 history. It's so dangerous to crash on purpose. You're putting your own life at risk, the lives of marshals, other drivers and spectators too! And it is manipulating a result which we all hate. Although I was honestly surprised that it took until 2008 for someone to do this. We are even still finding out new things about the incident: in 2023 it was revealed that Bernie Ecclestone and then FIA president Max Mosley knew about the incident while the 2008 season was still ongoing and they did nothing about it! This led to Felipe Massa considering legal action to see if the outcome of the 2008 championship could be disputed and honestly the whole thing was just a mess. It really takes a shine off of what is one of the best seasons in F1 history. I personally think that the race should have been nullified, but at the end of the day it's been 15+ years since it happened. It's too late to do anything now (not just saying that because I want Lewis to keep the WDC lol.)