2000s: Greatest impacts on F1 part 4

 Renault: 

They too were involved in some infamous scandals, sadly after their 2 years of dominance, there form too went down.

a) Mid- decade dominance

Action:  After almost a decade of seeing a Ferrari- Mclaren struggle for the top honors, Renault found them all of a sudden ahead in 2005. Though Williams had been involved earlier, they weren’t able to get any title since 1997. Renault’s domination in the hands of Alonso continued into 2006.

Repercussions: It finally showed to the masses that there were still other teams capable of holding their own in this tough F1 world. And this brought a lot more competition as it wasn’t out right domination with 2005 being between Renault (Alonso) and McLaren (Raikonnen), and 2006 being between Renault (Alonso) and Ferrari (Michael).

Presently: It does continue surprisingly with Brawn taking the honors in 2009, followed by Red Bull in the past 2 years.

b) Spy-gate scandal:

Action: Renault too was named in this notorious affair mentioned earlier, with their man rumored to be Philip MacKereth who had transferred from McLaren to Renault.

Repercussions: Though they were found guilty, they escaped penalty.

      c)       Crash gate scandal:

Action: During the inaugural Singapore GP in 2008, Nelson Piquet Jr. was infamously asked by the Renault team to crash on lap 14 at turn 17 forcing a safety car to be deployed due to unavailability of immediate crane assistance, just 2 laps after Fernando Alonso had done a surprisingly early stop. The race ended with Fernando Alonso winning the race and there were heavy celebrations in pit lane with none the wiser. Only a year later, when Nelson Piquet Jr. was axed from the Renault squad after the Hungarian Gp 2009, did he (Piquet Jr.) came out with the details, blaming Team Principal Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds for threatening him prior to Singapore Gp.

Repercussions: Renault F1 were handed a disqualification conditional to further rule infringements in the next 2 years. Flavio Briatore was suspended from all FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely while Pat Symonds got a similar penalty but for 5 year duration.

Presently: Both their bans have been overturned with both of them not to be directly involved in F1, with Renault not requiring facing disqualification. It is currently unclear whether Flavio will be seen again in a team though he denies it. Pat has returned as a consultant for Virgin racing (now Marussia).