Alpine F1

On September 21, this year FIA's World Motorsport Council will get reunited in Paris to listen to the explanations of Renault F1 team regarding the most recent scandal that has stricken the F1 micro-cosmos: the 2008 Singapore GP fixing denounce, a.k.a Renault's Crashgate Affair.

As many F1 fans are just way too habituated to these dust-raising quarrels inside motorsport's top category for getting surprised because of them, the level of underworld-style machination, mixed with backdoor intrigues and even family secrets that have been disclosed so far to the world press, will keep more than one head worried at Renault's F1 headquarters in Oxfordshire, England, and in Piquet's home at Sao Paulo, Brazil, and of course plenty of lawyers restlessly working on the file this week.

Because what started being the typical dedication of a indignant employee to his former employer (was Piquet piqued?), has turned lately into something that smells really, really bad and is menacing to overthrow one of the most well-established and important teams in F1, the only one besides Ferrari and Mclaren who has won championships in this decade.

All began on August 3, this year, when Renault fulminantly sacked Nelson Piquet on grounds of lack of results (allegedly his contract established he should achieve at least 40% of the points his teammate Alonso could get)

The Brazilian reacted to this weeks later with a stinging attack against its former team before the media, revealing an allegedly long-endured unequal treatment in comparison with team mate Alonso, and denouncing that top-management officers at Renault suggested him to crash at a specifically premeditated spot in last year's Singapore GP, in order to prompt the safety car appearance and the interruption of the race sequence in behalf of team mate Alonso, who henceforth won the race.

Even though there are always lot of speculative comments and claims surrounding F1 teams and drivers wins, some points must converge and some coincidences must have occurred in this one for the FIA to launch a probe, for there's no doubt that the claim would have been a totally baseless and absurd one, FIA wouldn't have bothered in watching it through a magnifier lens.

Therefore, when on September 4, FIA summoned Renault to appear in a hearing to explain the denounce, many faces began getting serious: FIA won’t take such a step without at least an evidence or a proof which effectively pointed to the fact that there was something wrong in all this stuff.

Despite the substantiation of such a probe shall be conducted and kept in tight secret, and nonetheless the FIA has asked the parties involved to keep “silence” over the issue until the hearing, some data has been deliberated leaked to the media by “someone”, we believe that in order to increase pressure around and provoke statements and speeches from the protagonists which lead to more flaws and public disclosure of information.

The data leaked were telemetry records.

They allegedly show that Piquet keep accelerating even after he had struck the wall, when the natural reaction to a sudden impact like that would have been to brake.   

Well, the cauldron was boiling. After strongly denying first that even such a possibility of fixing a race could exist, Renault took the bait and some of their top executives (Briatore and Symonds) confirmed a few days ago that a meeting with Piquet where this topic was introduced effectively existed, but that the idea of suggesting it came directly from the Brazilian driver. 

Here the pressure reached red zone. Independently from who was the one suggesting it, the idea of race fixing was not so remote as it appeared at the beginning, and it promptly fuelled more and more speculations on the issue, while Mosley added his personal quote of firewood by stating that race-fixing is “much worse” than cheating (in reference to Mclaren’s last year spygate which cost them a $100 million fine), and that Piquet would be given total immunity if he declared the truth.

The basics of lawyering state that if you receive a direct attack, and you do not counterattack swiftly, your position weakens before the public eye. Therefore Renault F1 replied taking legal action against the Piquets, and suing them for alleged blackmailing and extortion before a Court in Paris. Whilst it eased somehow the pressure by allowing Renault to switch from a defensive to an attacking position, the public opinion had already started lapidating both Renault and Piquet, to the extent that some urgent action was due before damages to the public image were irreversible. And that was exactly what whoever leaked the telemetry data was searching for.

Today, Renault has announced in a short statement that both Briatore and Symonds have “left the team” and that will not dispute the allegations of the FIA on the Singapore issue. Days before, Briatore tried a quite unprofessional last-minute stratagem and attempted to deviate public attention on the issue by making personal attacks to Piquet Jr. and suggestions about his sexual tendencies (he’s a vicious kid, I had to finish off the relationship he had with a 50 years old man, they lived together, his father was worried, we helped him a lot).

He obviously sought to trivialize things by making the denounce appear as the impulsive, thoughtless reaction of a piqued boy who has been forced to break a sentimental relationship. But the move wasn’t good enough, and shortly after their heads roll on. In fact, the guillotine which made them fall was set some weeks ago, but perhaps the swift erosion of Renault’s image and Briatore’s own iniquitous declarations prompted them to push the button...or maybe someone asked for their heads in order to give Renault F1 Team a more benign treatment in the final verdict. 

Although the case is now clear, actually is the FIA who faces a dilemma. What will be decided on September 21? An exemplar penalty? By sacking the guilty ones, Renault has attempted to show they have nothing to see with the decisions that were taken and that such were undertook personally by the protagonists. Besides, like many sports, F1 is struggling to be financially viable, and banning teams to participate or imposing whooping fines does not seem the way they can help it.

Discharge? No way, this is a very ugly thing in which the lives of many persons were recklessly put into danger.  Renault’s legal staff should be focusing now on defending the position that the race-fixing plan was something laid out by Briatore-Symonds-Piquet and that no other person at the team knew or participated on it, although is hard for me to believe that Alonso didn’t knew it, no matter if it was before or after the race. He was really disappointed with Renault’s performance that season and was seriously thinking in quit the team, but Briatore wanted to keep him at all costs.

I incline myself to think that Renault will receive a mild sanction, considering the circumstances and latest events. I can’t state the same for the other parties involved, and much probably Briatore and Symonds won’t ever put their feet again in a F1 paddock. Piquet, though he was promised immunity, has also a very uncertain future in F1, as he hasn’t demonstrated many driving skills and is now known how unscrupulous could be; will anyone give him a contract again?             

Renault has officially taken over the mantle of "Most Naughty Team" from McLaren over the course of the 2009 Formula One World Championship. 

In less than two months, the team have been brought before the World Council for charges of two major sporting violations. 

The Regie were rightly penalized for allowing Fernando Alonso's unsafe car to re-enter the Hungarian Grand Prix. Initially given a one-race ban, their penalty was rightly reduced to a major fine and they were allowed to race in Valencia. 

A week from today, they will be brought back before the World Council for a charge that they ordered Nelsinho Piquet to intentionally crash on lap 14 of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in order for teammate Fernando Alonso to be in an advantageous strategy position to win the race. 

Whether or not the team is ultimately found guilty of the offense, there still must be an overhaul. The controversy in which the team has recently found itself is just one of many reasons for such a change. 

Renault has relatively fallen off the face of the earth in competitiveness since they won two constructors and drivers championships in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso. The cars have been poorly designed, even if they have been improved of the course of each season with development. 

Many thought that the loss of Alonso, considered by many to be a top development driver, contributed to the team's decline from 2006 to 2007. But his return hasn't brought Renault back to the front of the field, indicating there are more fundamental issues in the design department. 

Furthermore, the cases of sporting misconduct they have faced this season point to poor management from the top. Failing to tether a wheel during a pit stop is simply inexcusable and points to a lack of preparation by the pit crew. And it's fairly obvious that Piquet would not be bringing a case before the FIA if he felt that he had been managed fairly at Renault. 

Responsibility for all of the problems of the team belongs to one man and one man only, and his name is Flavio Briatore. A picture is worth 1000 words, Briatore's departure from the Hungarian Grand Prix before the end of the race says quite a lot about his real level of interest in the team's success. 

Renault is a manufacturer and team with a rich history of success in Formula One. In addition to their championships with Alonso earlier this decade, they dominated the mid-1990s as an engine constructor with a string of championships with Williams (as well as Benetton in 1995).

They regularly contended for constructors championships as a manufacturer team in the 1980s with the man who should be its next leader at the wheel:

Alain Prost.

Prost already has experience as a team principal, albeit Prost Grand Prix was never able to achieve the necessary funds to be competitive. Some of the best managers learn through failure, and Prost would surely be better prepared for another go at team principal. 

Secondly, there is no one person who has carried Renault to more success than Prost. In addition to his nine wins and near championship misses with the team in the early 1980s, he flatly dominated the 1993 championship with Williams-Renault in his final go at F1. 

Prost's introduction as Team Principal at Renault would generate much enthusiasm given his legendary status as one of the greatest drivers in F1 history. The fact that he is French is obvious a convenient characteristic for the French team. 

The Regie belongs in F1. If Renault stays and is serious about competing, they need to overhaul its leadership, beginning at the top with the team principal. 

The FIA website states that  "Representatives of ING Renault F1 have been requested to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Monday, 21 September 2009"

"The team representatives have been called to answer charges, including a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, that the team conspired with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso."

It seems some what coincidental that one of the drivers concerned has recently parted company with Renault on less than amicable terms.

Would a team really risk the life of driver to win a race?  If the charge is proved, this would surely rate as one of the most despicable acts in F1, perhaps sporting, history.

Let's look at what actually happened*.

Qualifying

During qualifying, Alonso had a fuel pump problem that resulted in him qualifying a lowly 15th with his team-mate Piquet fairing no better and lining up along side him in 16th slot on the grid.

Championship leaders Massa and Hamilton took Pole and 2nd place respectively after the final qualifying session.

The Start

Everyone gets away safely with Massa opening up a slight lead and Hamilton sucessfully holding off a challenge from Raikkonen.  Kovalinen drops a couple of spots and Alonso picks up three places to take 12th.

Lap 12

Alonso, starting on a light fuel load, is the first driver to pit and fuels for a long second stint.  Off come the super-softs and on with the softs.

Lap 14

Nelson Piquet hits the wall near turn 17 and the safety car is sent out.  However, both Red Bulls, who are just 3 seconds behind, drive into the pit lane just before it is closed following Piquet's accident.  Barrichelo also makes it to the pits but his race is over.

Laps 15 & 16

Rosberg and Kubica, low on fuel, are forced to pit on laps 15 & 16 respectively. With the pit lane still closed, they will both incur a stop-go penalty for the infringement a few laps later.

Lap 17 

With the pit lane open, a total of 10 drivers head into the pits headed by Massa's Ferrari.  Ferrari have a nightmare stop caused, in part, by the premature release of Massa by their unique electronic traffic light pit release system.  

This sees Massa accelerate out of the pit box with part of the fuel rig still attached. Massa knocks over one of the pit crew in the process.  When Massa finally rejoins the race, he has spent over 2 mins in the pits and is way down the field.

Massa will later be further penalized for the unsafe pit release with a drive through penalty, but his race is already ruined and he will finsh the race a lowly 13th.

Laps 27 & 29

Kubica and Rosberg (repectively) serve their penalties for violating the closed pit lane elevating Alonso into the lead.

Lap 49

Alonso is the quickest man on the track now after the second round of stops and is building a nice lead.

Lap 50

Sutil in the Force India goes off in the same place as Piquet earlier and the safety car remerges evaporating Alonso's lead.  Rosberg lies 2nd with Hamilton just behind in 3rd.

Lap 57 

Raikkonen clips the wall emerging from the chicane at turn 10 and retires.

Lap 61

Alonso wins for Renault, 3 secs ahead of Rosberg with Hamilton making it onto the podium a further 3 secs behind the Williams.

Now that we established what we know, let's examine some of the questions raised by this investigation.

Given the timing of the investigation, it would seem to imply that Nelson Piquet is maybe the source for some of evidence that prompted the investigation.  

It would not be the first time that a driver has incriminated his team.   Coincidentally, it was Alonso who was at the heart of the allegations against McLaren, a team with whom he was still contracted with at the time.

Let's, for the moment, assume that the allegations are true and Renault did indeed ensure Alonso's victory by "engineering" Piquets crash at just the right time.  How would they be able to do this?

"Causing" the accident

There are, I suppose, three ways this could have been done:

a) to tell Piquet to crash on lap 14 before the race started

The problem with this approach would be that this would be an extremely inflexible plan that would require Renault to put their trust in Piquet to put himself at incredible risk and to accurately predict the fuel strategies of all the other teams.

b) to tell Piquet to crash on lap 14 during the race

While this plan affords greater flexibility, it carries with it the risk of having to signal Piquet via the radio (or conceivably a pit board) when to crash and the chance that the communication is seen or overheard.

c) not to tell Piquet

Now this would be the most disturbing scenario if true.  Now, I am no expert and I am not even sure if it is technically possible for the pits to manipulate the setup of the car remotely in such a way as to cause a retirement on a specified lap.  If this were the case, or if they did so before the race, then the FIA would be the least of their worries as such actions would surely lead to extremely serious criminal charges.

My feeling is that noner of the above scenarios is particularly likely given the following facts:

1. Three cars still managed to pit legally after Piquet's accident, thereby opening up the possibility that one of the leaders may have made it into the pits before they were closed.

2. Sutil crashed in the same spot as Piquet, so Piquet's off was not without precedent (though I know it's technical not a precedent as it came after!)

3. Any of the above scenarios would have been ruined if another team had decided to run a similar fuel strategy as Renault and stopped on or before lap 14.

4. To take such drastic action you would need to be sure that the plan would result in a win.  There were just too many thing that could go wrong. 

5. Why not simply arrange for Piquet to run out of fuel?

I will be very interested to see what evidence the FIA has to justify making such an accusation.  I hope it is more than Piquet's belief that his crash must have been as a result of the favoritism he has alleged that Renault has shown toward Alonso.

If Piquet says he crashed deliberately at Renault's instruction, the FIA had better have something more to back up the charge....

*My thanks to f1.com/news.bbc.co.uk/wikipedia.org for helping me verify the chronology of events

I am from Brazil; a country where any local television channel's most lucrative form of entertainment is unquestionably its soap operas. These short stories, lasting on average for six months are each rough replicas of their predecessors. A very small group of actors are picked by each channel and all share the parts for each 6 month soap, alternating the major and minor roles amongst themselves.

Every time, predictably similar events unfold, always as dramatic as possible, until the end of each soap when things tend to settle down a bit.

Over the years of watching Formula One I have always joked to some girlfriends who couldn't understand why I watched the sport, that it is the male's version of a soap opera.

At this time I would like to state that I am aware that some women also enjoy Formula One, in a similar way that some men also enjoy television soap operas, and that this article's title is targeted towards the core audience for the sake of comparison.

With that said, more recently it has struck me that Formula One has resembled the structure of a soap opera more and more to the point where it has actually affected the outcome of the championship.

The 2007 McLaren espionage case being the first event to fortify this view. Not only was the scandal dramatic, but the stripping of McLaren's constructors points along with arguably the biggest most dramatic fine in sports history had many men reaching for tissue boxes in a similar fashion as their female counterparts would have when Claudia found out Fernando had been cheating on her with her best friend...no...make that...her sister.

Speaking of Fernando, Alonso's dramatic relationship with Hamilton and the McLaren team was also very soapy.

Now, fast forward to 2008. As if the season wasn't dramatic enough, Renault have just been charged with fixing the grand prix at Singapore. For a hard core Massa fan like me, this is like watching a rerun of a soap opera only to find that it is even more emotional than it appeared.

Break out the tissues again because if it wasn't for Nelsinho's alleged Brazilian on Brazilian crime, Massa may very well have scored 10 points at Singapore as his fuel hose incident was a direct result of Nelsinho's crash.

The Pit madness that prompted Ferrari to use the manual pit light system which turned green prematurely via a human error would not have occurred if Nelsinho hadn't put drama before sport that night.

After learning about the Renault accusations, and watching it evolve into a more and more legitimate claim, I am conditioned to think dramatically which leads me to question other events during that season.

If an event like Nelsinho's crash can be deliberate, then why not question Timo Glock's final lap or two at the Brazilian GP in 2008? When it first happened every single person in the room I was in, (not all Ferrari fans) immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was intentional based on how it looked.

I have since painfully dismissed the ideas that it was intentional but as it becomes clear that crashing a car deliberately as a part of a plan involving a team and two drivers can go unnoticed; slowing down the Toyotas for the last couple laps of a championship deciding race is suddenly not very far fetched in soap opera terms. In fact it is considerably easier to orchestrate.

Should a probe be launched to investigate that GP as well? Perhaps not as it would cause too much controversy to a sport which is exponentially becoming riddled with scandals.

The 2009 season has seen no change in this familiar pattern.

The war between the FIA and FOTA seemed likely to break up F1 into two leagues, but just as the friction reached its peak, things settled down.

In a similar fashion, it seemed that Lewis Hamilton would receive a multiple race ban for misleading officials at the first grand prix of the season, that too took care of itself with time.

What will the rest of this season bring? What about next season?

With so much drama, the last thread that seems to be preventing Formula One from transitioning into a full on soap opera is Kimi Raikkonen, the kryptonite of drama itself!

When Nelson Piquet was sacked by Renault's Formula One team last month, many predicted that it would not be the end of the story, a bitter saga that had rumbled on almost since the Brazilian arrived in F1 at the beginning of 2008.

Immediately it was evident that Piquet was not on the pace of his teammate, double world champion Fernando Alonso, and rumours were rife as early as April that his seat could be in danger. In the end it took until July of this year for Piquet to finally be dropped, after ten races in which he had scored not a single point.

Piquet's retention for 2009 was a surprise to some, after a year in which he had almost consistently failed to impress. He lucked into a podium at the German Grand Prix, but other than that had little to show for what was a disappointing season for the French team as a whole.

Come the Singapore Grand Prix, however, all that changed. Alonso looked set for an excellent grid position until a mechanical failure in qualifying confined him to 15th on the grid.

On a street circuit such as Singapore, with limited overtaking opportunity, it was perhaps expected that Renault would fill Alonso's car to the brim with fuel, in the hope that a long pit strategy would gain him a few positions. Instead, technical director Pat Symonds tried something radical—fuelling Alonso light for a three-stop strategy, in the hope that his nimbler car could make up places on track rather than in the pits.

After the first 12 laps of F1's inaugural night race, it looked as though the strategy had failed. Alonso had made up a few places on the first lap, but was set to lose them all as he approached the pit lane.

Two laps after Alonso stopped, however, teammate Piquet spun and crashed into the wall, bringing out the safety car. The instant closure of the pit lane meant that everyone had to circulate slowly for a few laps before being allowed to refuel, and brought Alonso right into contention as he rose to the head of the field.

In the end the Spaniard won the Singapore Grand Prix, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Some questions were asked about the convenient timing of Piquet's crash, but most credible sources were willing to give Renault the benefit of the doubt. As the eminent F1 journalist Joe Saward said, it was hardly a stretch of the imagination to conclude that Piquet had made a genuine error, such was his reputation.

Piquet bounced back from his disappointing—though ultimately fortunate—Singapore exit to score fourth place in the next race in Japan, Alonso winning again, this time without the help of the safety car. And despite lacklustre showings in the last two races of the season—not making it beyond the first lap in his home race in Brazil—Piquet was retained for 2009.

However, this year was far from a fairytale for Piquet and he fell out of favour at Renault. After his exit from the team he began almost immediately to criticise his handling by top Renault figures, describing team principal Flavio Briatore as his "executioner."

Now, during the broadcast of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, Brazilian TV network Globo reported that evidence had come to light suggesting that Piquet was ordered by Renault to crash in Singapore, thus helping Alonso to win the race. It is not hard to imagine where this evidence has come from.

Already reports have surfaced that the FIA may investigate the allegations, and if they are found to be grounded in reality the punishment for Renault could be extremely severe.

It is almost certain that Renault would be hauled over the coals in violation of Article 151(c) of the International Sporting Code, which concerns the bringing of motorsport into disrepute. McLaren were found guilty of violating this rule in 2007, and received a record $100 million fine as well as exclusion from the Constructors' Championship of that year.

Renault's future participation in F1 has been in doubt for several years, and rumours earlier this season suggested that the manufacturer was looking to sell the team to Briatore himself. A very public beating at the hands of the FIA would all but seal this decision for the French outfit.

At present it is difficult to know what action the FIA would take. Altering the results of a 2008 race so long after the event would be extremely problematic—Nico Rosberg might take his first victory, but it would be far from an ideal one.

Furthermore it is arguable that Piquet's accident triggered almost the entire field to pit under the safety car, and under this high-pressure environment the mistake was made at Ferrari that caused Felipe Massa to leave his pit box with his fuel hose still attached. The points lost by Massa that evening would prove to cost him the world championship. The situation, therefore, is much more complicated than a simple case of Renault unfairly gaining an advantage—lots of other people were affected by their alleged race-fixing, too.

Even simply declaring the results null and void, if such a thing is possible, would dramatically alter the shape of the 2008 world championship and award the title to Massa, Hamilton losing the six points he gained for third in that race.

In all probability, however, such drastic measures will not be taken, and an alternative solution will be found. Nonetheless, if these allegations are proven to be true, Renault face a very uncomfortable end to the season.

The clock's been ticking for a long time on Nelson Piquet Jr, I was actually very bullish on how Nelsinho was going to do in Formula One. Maybe I was blinded by the name, and the cache that name holds in the world of Formula One especially in a Brazilian's eye.

But sometime recently it all coalesced in my mind how did Nelsinho even make it to Formula One? and once again we come back to his father, Nelsinho's teams in all rungs of the single seater development ladder had one thing in common.

The name Piquet on it, the only reason had made it so far was because of his father and now daddy's not there to save poor Nelsinho from the cold hard world, what happens? he finally gets sacked, and Renault has no choice to replace Nelsinho.

On a side bar... that Piquet-Sauber rumor was probably the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard, that Nelson would go as far as buying a Formula One team to give his son a job is ridiculous. It encapsulates everything that's wrong with the world today.

So now to the nitty gritty. There are two drivers that Renault and Briatore have committed themselves too, the French/Swiss Romain Grosjean and the Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi.

Both men have been in the Renault family for a long time, both are very accomplished in GP2 and both would be a great addition to the Renault Formula One team.

I'll be honest, I don't watch much GP2 racing but I've heard both drivers have sparkling records.

Romain Grosjean who is thought to be the clear front runner for the position has the following results this year an average qualifying position of 7.66, average finish in a feature race of 8.66 and in sprint races 7.33.

Lucas Di Grassi who missed the first races of the season in 2008 still managed to finished third in the championship. So far in 2009 his qualifying position of 5 is better than Grosjean's. His average finish in a feature race has been 6.883 and 10.33 in sprint events.

Both drivers have the same amount of points scored in feature races, 24, and they're within five points of each other in the championship.

Grosjean seems to be the more technically skilled driver, more predictable and less of a risk, but Di Grassi is an incandescent talent and amazingly fast. They're track records are very similar. Honestly think it's a toss-up, both would be a good choice.

But...

Grosjean was probably promised the job a long time ago, when they knew Nelsinsho wouldn't work out, but I think Di Grassi is more deserving but in the end we'll find out what happens next week, after all he is French and Lucas isn't.

Formula One (F1) Racing is clearly my favorite sport to watch and the excitement has definitely picked up in the last few seasons.

Yet, I have some beef with some of the individuals who are in charge managing the rules during the races.

Yes, the F1 stewards have started to get on my nerves with their odd and sometimes awful decisions.

As the viewers saw during the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Renault F1 team did not attach the right-front wheel properly to Fernando Alonso's car during his first pit stop and in the following lap it subsequently came off.

After the race concluded, the race stewards got together and decided to hand Renault a one race suspension for their actions.

Okay, yes I do understand Renault getting a penalty, especially after the Felipe Massa incident during qualifying. Yet most viewers would understand if Renault received a fine or a grid penalty for the next race.

Not a one-race suspension.

This shows that the currently system of stewards that the FIA is applying is flawed.

Currently, the system is that there are three stewards that designated for each event.

Two of the individuals are from the FIA and the other steward is a local and these three individuals differ from one event to the other.

What the FIA need to do is hire a panel stewards that does not change from race to race in order to get consistent results.

There have been many other times in the last several years, where the stewards have made ridiculous decisions and sometimes it has had championship implications.

Here's a quick list of weird and unusual penalties in the last few years:

1. 2009 German GP = Mark Webber gets a drive through penalty for causing a collision at the start of the race, which saw no cars retire from the race along with the fact that the man he hit (Rubens Barrichello) took the lead after the first corner.

2. 2008 Japanese GP = Sebastian Bourdais gets a 25 second penalty after the race for spinning out Massa, even though it was Massa being too aggressive and impatient on cold tires as he came out of the pit lane.

3. 2007 Hungarian GP = McLaren Mercedes was not allowed to collect constructors championship points after Alonso took his time exciting the pit lane and stopped Lewis Hamilton from having time to set one more flying lap. This should be up to the team to take disciplinary action, not for the race stewards to get involved.

4. 2006 Italian GP = Alonso is given a five place grid penalty for "blocking" Massa in qualifying, even though he was flying around the track in order to have time to run another flying lap before the session ended.

5. 1994 British GP = Michael Schumacher passes Damon Hill on the parade lap. The race stewards decide to DQ him, even though he gave it back and it was like he was going to move into the pole position for the start of the race.

In order to avoid mistakes like this, the FIA needs to implement permanent race stewards in order to have fair race judgement for every Grand Prix in the season.

Following Saturday's Hungarian Grand Prix, the FIA has decided to suspend Renault from the European GP. 

In my opinion, this is another example of the FIA issuing punishments that are harmful to Formula 1. 

The European GP is home GP to Alonso, and the majority of the fans who turn up will want to see their countryman race. To suspend the Renault team from the race is only going to harm the image of F1, especially with the Spanish fans. 

As a racing fan, I want to see a full field. I don't want see an empty pit garage where one of the biggest teams should be. 

I understand that the death of Henry Surtees and the serious injury to Felipe Massa have caused the FIA to want to take action against the team. Is the punishment the right course of action though?

F1 is a dangerous sport. The speeds that modern F1 cars travel at combined with crash barriers inches from the tracks adds to the danger, but also to the excitement. 

I have lost count over the years of how many times wheels have come off or major crashes have occurred. 

I have also lost count of how many times the FIA has had a knee-jerk reaction that has had the potential to be detrimental to the sport. 

Stopping Alonso from racing is going to hurt the opinion of F1 in Spain. I understand that there needs to be a sanction against the team, but this is not right. I think a far more suitable punishment would be to either dock the team points or to issue a fine. 

What the supporters of F1 want to see is a full grid, with the drivers being allowed to concentrate on getting the best out of their cars over the weekend and entertaining the crowds.

Any decision by the FIA which goes against that is pure stupidity.

The Formula One race stewards are not fooling around anymore.

They have clearly become stricter following the regulations and many people would agree that they should after the Felipe Massa incident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Renault Formula Team, has fallen victim to their foolishness as they have been banned from attending the European Grand Prix in Valencia in a month's time.

The ruling came after Fernando Alonso was allowed to leave his pit without his right-front wheel fully attached.

Alonso, who led the race up to that point from pole position came out of the pits and immediately realised that he had a problem. As he struggled back to the pits, the wheel flew off as the wheel tethers were not properly hooked on to the wheel.

The two-time F1 world champion, would have to retire from the race just a lap later.

The stewards claimed that Renault should be suspended for not just neglecting to secure the wheel, but also for failing to radio to their driver that there was a problem.

Renault entered the race on a season-high after Alonso secured the team's first pole position since 2006 and had set Alonso up for a three-stop strategy.

Renault's other driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. finished the race in the 12th.

Renault plans to appeal the decision, but if the stewards decision is upheld, both Alonso and Piquet will be forced to sit on the sidelines for the European Grand Prix, which takes place Aug. 21-23.

This was the second time in four years that a wheel has come off of Alonso's Renault after a pit stop during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

In 2006, Alonso was fighting for the lead, when his wheel came off in turn two, which gave current championship leader, Jenson Button his first career victory.

Although the results are not yet confirmed by the FIA as timing screens around the world suddenly went down, but many are 100% confident that these results are correct, it is definitely Fernando Alonso on pole. Him, Vettel and Webber were all in the post qualifying press conference.

Championship leader Jenson Button has struggled all weekend long and qualified 8th, while last years champion Lewis Hamilton qualified his season best of 4th with his teammate Kovalainen in 6th.

The two Ferrari's Raikkonen and Massa both made it through to Q3 with Raikkonen qualifying 7th while Massa had a huge crash in Q2, which was caused by a piece of Barrichello's rear suspension hitting him on the helmet before he crashed into the barriers head on.

Rookie, Alguersuari was unable to finish the first qualifying session with a car problem. He will start tomorrows race last.

Here are the results in full

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Alonso Renault 1:21.313 1:20.826 1:21.569
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:21.178 1:20.604 1:21.607
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:20.964 1:20.358 1:21.741
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.842 1:20.465 1:21.839
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:20.793 1:20.862 1:21.890
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.659 1:20.807 1:22.095
7. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:21.500 1:20.647 1:22.468
8. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:21.471 1:20.707 1:22.511
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:21.407 1:20.570 1:22.835
10. Massa Ferrari 1:21.420 1:20.823
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.571 1:21.002
12. Trulli Toyota 1:21.416 1:21.082
13. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:21.558 1:21.222
14. Glock Toyota 1:21.584 1:21.242
15. Piquet Renault 1:21.278 1:21.389
16. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:21.738
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:21.807
18. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:21.868
19. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:21.901
20. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.359