Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has hit out at the FIA for 'letting off' Renault in the race-fix scandal - but says he expected the punishment to be lenient.
"I'm not surprised they've let Renault off," Hill, who drove a Renault-powered Williams F1 car to the world title in 1996, told the Times newspaper. "It's a crying shame for the sport.
"You have to put this in the context of inconsistencies in the way in which the FIA has treated breaches of the regulations over the years and, knowing what we know, we cannot dissociate this from the power play going on behind the scenes for control of Formula One.
"Formula One has to ask itself, is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport? There is a whole book on what's wrong with Formula One. It's called Bernie's Game and the history of this episode is typical."
However, FIA president Max Mosley has insisted the penalty is fair, claiming it was the harshest the FIA can impose.
"I think it's the right decision," Mosley said. "I think the blame has been placed where the blame should be placed. The penalty that we've imposed is the harshest one we can impose, which is disqualification, complete exclusion from the sport.
"The penalty for Renault is disqualification but suspended for two years, so what that means is that provided they don't do something silly in the next two years, they don't have any problems.
"However, because Renault have demonstrated that they had absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place it would be wrong in the circumstances to impose an immediate penalty."
Former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, however, received the hardest hit after he was banned from F1 for life.
Mosley believes the FIA was left with no other choice.
"It's sad to see a career end like that, but what else could we do?" said Mosley.
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Re: Hill: 'Renault F1 got away lightly'
Yes, I was one of those supporters, however, my favourite driver was Prost, so no 'our Damon' about it sonny. What I was getting at was that yours was a silly comment about a man who would stand head and shoulders over you if he was down a mine. He's one of Britain's true gents, and never used to respond to all the silly comments that used to come from Schumacher and Ecclestone. He proved what he could do with the Williams when all Coulthard could do with it was come in fifth, even though they had identical cars. However, none of that is appropriate. My point was that calling someone like him words like that just shows your pathetic level of reasoning, and you should retract it on second thought. What he stated was the behind-the-scenes power-play now that Ecclestone is coming undone. There's an enormous (and I do mean an enormous) amount of money for someone who plays it canny, and Damon Hill and others know that. There are massive politics that go on within the FIA, which included no doubt a plan to oust Dennis at McLaren (can't actually say too much), and Damon was voicing what others are thinking. Grow up, plumiest, or at least try to think about the words you use before you type again. If you don't have the mental capacity to think then clear off.
And don't expect a reply if you cannot retract. You're not worth my time.
Re: Hill: 'Renault F1 got away lightly'
If you're going to make ridiculous comments like that then you've no place on this forum. Go back to pist'n'broke, or wherever you came. You couldn't hope to be a bigger person than Damon Hill even if you stood on his shoulders.
Re: Hill: 'Renault F1 got away lightly'
This is not quite true though is it? Renault F1 is owned by Renault, and therefore part of Renault. So if their two most senior execs (I would have thought that Flav at the very least would be a board sanctioned appointment) colluded to fix a race, then surely Renault should be deemed culpable. The fact that they acted after the event and got rid of Flav and Symonds does not materially change anything and really should not mitigate against it.