MOTOR SPORT SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX:AFTER THE harshest of spotlights had been shone in to the dark recesses of his predecessor's desperate ego, new Renault Formula One boss Bob Bell afforded himself the smallest of wry half-smiles on the pitwall yesterday when practice for tomorrow's second running of the Singapore Grand Prix threw up an almost comedic reminder of the scandal that has made his team sporting pariahs.
Midway through the opening session Romain Grosjean, the driver whose replacement of the disgruntled Nelson Piquet had kick-started the so-called “Crashgate” affair, lost control of his Renault and ploughed into the same wall, in exactly the same spot, as Piquet had last year deliberately exited the race in a bid to manipulate the race outcome.
Even the words that filtered through over the radio echoed those of Piquet a year ago. “Sorry guys,” said Grosjean, “I lost it coming into Turn 17.”
If it wasn’t the signal event of the two practice sessions – that honour went to the sessions’ re-establishment of this season’s traditional grid order, with the Brawns, Red Bulls and McLarens largely dominant – then it was a gentle reminder that in the venue where Flavio Briatore’s power began to unravel, the story of the sport’s worst cheating scandal is refusing to go quietly into the Singapore night.
That much was emphasised by Bell yesterday, as the new Renault technical boss admitted the past weeks have been the most troubled in the long life of a team that had been born as Benetton and won two world championships before being taken over by Renault at the turn of the century.
“I was as relieved as every team member was – we all thought this could be the end of our jobs,” Bell said yesterday of the suspended, two-year ban handed to Renault by a Paris hearing on Monday. “It was genuine relief from top to the bottom. We’ve gone through a very difficult period, but I think everyone realises that Renault is a very strong team and we’ve dealt with a lot of ups and downs in the past but we are fundamentally strong and committed.”
More committed, it seems, than the team’s sponsors. When the cars rolled out of the garage yesterday the logos of sponsor Mutua Madrilena and of ING were gone, the global insurer and main financial bulwark of the team backing away from the tainted outfit with almost unseemly haste.
That lack of commitment was extending, via paddock gossip, to the parent company itself. Bell refused to be drawn on Renault’s future in the sport, but rumours are circulating that former Benetton and BAR team boss David Richard, who has twice attempted to claw his way back into the sport in recent years with his Prodrive team, was preparing a €35 million war chest to buy Renault out should the motor manufacturer decided enough is enough.
The only response was for Bell and his team to attempt to turn the focus towards the track action, and Grosjean’s unfortunate exit was somewhat glossed over by the performance of the controversial winner of last year’s race, Fernando Alonso. After slotting into fourth in the opening session, the Spaniard finished the day second, behind Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel, to confirm that this time out Alonso might have a car he can take into the points without illegal aid.
It was the season’s previous pacesetters who made the most of the Friday running however. Heavy traffic through the circuit’s tight corners meant late-session quick laps were in short supply, but with Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button quickest in session one, the Red Bulls and McLarens in close attendance and Vettel dominant in a second session briefly halted by team-mate Mark Webber hitting the wall, normal race order looks to have been resumed.
