Ecclestone worried Renault may pull out of F1 following allegations that team ordered crash

October 7th, 2009 Kubica to join Renault in 2010, replaces AlonsoPARIS — Robert Kubica will drive for Formula One team Renault from 2010, replacing Ferrari-bound Fernando Alonso and partner Romain Grosjean of France. Terms of the deal and the length of the contract were not released.

October 5th, 2009 LONDON - Nelson Piquet Junior claims his former team Renault had "threatened" to withdraw his contract unless he agreed to purposefully crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. In what has become known as 'crashgate', the French manufacturer was last month found guilty of causing an accident to aid the cause of their driver Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.

October 2nd, 2009 Boss says Renault's commitment to F1 still strongSUZUKA, Japan — Renault's commitment to Formula One remains strong despite the recent crisis that has enveloped the team, acting team principal Bob Bell said Friday. Over the past three weeks, the team has lost team principal Flavio Briatore to an indefinite ban and chief engineer Pat Symonds to a five-year suspension for their roles in Nelson Piquet Jr.'s deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is of the view that the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix result on the grounds that Renault driver Nelson Piquet Junior's deliberately crashed and allowed teammate Fernando Alonso to win, "robbing" him of glory. All of what happened was robbery - but regarding the race nothing has happened, the result remains the same.

September 28th, 2009 LONDON - Bernie Ecclestone has reiterated that he will continue to run Formula One despite copping some criticism about how he has been handling the sport from Sir Martin Sorrell, a director of the company that owns the sport. Ecclestone, who owns the commercial rights to F1 through his company Formula One Management, said at the Singapore race that the comments were just sticks and stones and not the start of a campaign to oust him from his post, The Sun reports.

September 26th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Despite criticizing the World Motor Sport Council's verdict on former Renault team chief Flavio Briatore's lifetime ban from motor racing, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has warned Briatore against challenging the verdict in civil courts as it would only make matters worse. "It would be stupid of Flavio to do that.

September 25th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said that the World Motor Sport Council's verdict on former Renault team chief Flavio Briatore, who has been banned for fixing last year's Singapore Grand Prix, was too harsh. Briatore was banned indefinitely from all FIA-sanctioned events for his role in the fixing-scandal when driver Nelson Piquet Jnr was told to crash into a wall to bring out the safety car.

September 21st, 2009 PARIS - The FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Monday handed over a two-year suspended ban to Renault Formula One team for ordering former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car during the 2008 season's Singapore Grand Prix to help teammate Fernando Alonso win.

September 21st, 2009 PARIS - A hearing which could decide the future of the Renault Formula One team began at FIA's Paris headquarters Monday. Renault was answering charges at the federation's World Motor Sport Council that it ordered its former driver Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

September 16th, 2009 Briatore out at Renault, team not disputing chargeLONDON — Renault split with team principal Flavio Briatore on Wednesday and said it would not contest a charge that Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash during a Formula One race.

September 11th, 2009 Renault F1 takes legal action against Piquet, sonMONZA, Italy — Renault has taken legal action against Nelson Piquet and his son over race-fixing claims that could lead to the French team being thrown out of Formula One. The team said Friday that team principal Flavio Briatore has started criminal proceedings in France against former driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

September 5th, 2009 PARIS - Motorsport's governing body FIA has asked Formula One team Renault to appear before a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council to answer a series of charges. AN FIA statement said the meeting would be held September 21.

September 4th, 2009 Renault summoned by FIA to explain Singapore crashPARIS — Renault was summoned by Formula One's governing body to a hearing into allegations that the team deliberately caused a crash to win a race last season. The French team was called to appear before the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Sept.

September 1st, 2009 LONDON - Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that Formula One had been rocked by race-fix fears. Motorsport chiefs have launched a probe into last year's Singapore Grand Prix after claims Nelson Piquet was ordered to crash by Renault, allowing team-mate Fernando Alonso to pull off a shock win, reports The Sun.

July 6th, 2009 Ecclestone calls Hitler flap 'misunderstanding'BERLIN — Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says the furor over his reported comment that Adolf Hitler got "things done" is a misunderstanding. The German daily newspaper Bild quoted Ecclestone in a story published Monday as saying that "this was all a big misunderstanding." The World Jewish Congress had called for Ecclestone to resign after his comments appeared in The Times of London on Saturday.