Nelson Piquet Jr.'s crash video: You decide

There are no secrets anywhere any more.

Want to watch Nelson Piquet Jr.’s famous crash at the Grand Prix of Singapore last year? The one we now know was staged? Here’s the link.

But before you click on it, here are two things to look for:

1. On the formation lap, Piquet spins coming out of a left-hand corner at a fairly slow speed. Was he practising for his crash?

2. When Alonso wins, the camera switches to team principal Flavio Briatore, who is celebrating with the others at Renault command central. One of the people he high-fives is Piquet Jr. (just to his left).

Want to see guilt? It’s right there on Nelson Piquet Jr.’s face.

Comments

[David White]

Excellent investigation Norris.
The resolution quality of the video allows the viewers to
make their own conclusions.
Keep up the great work.
David White

[doug]

how did F1 become such a mess.....in my lifetime I have seen Indy 500 minimized due to greed, and now F1....also professional boxing was all but erased thanks to Don King....money,money,money but yet when Michael Moore complains about capitalism people are up in arms...well look no further then these sports, american banks, and corporations like Enron...

[dj]

Well Jr's eyes say it all,besides for that crash to happen for real the left side drive shaft would have to break, looks intact to me. p.s. is that Dave White of FF fame above.

[Dean Kagawa]

I also stumbled onto a website yesterday that had posted 13 or 14 pdf files that purported to be all the FIA data for Monday's hearings - the files were all taken down a few hours later, but from what I recall

- telemetry showing Piquet kept his foot on the accelerator right up until he hit the wall
- telemetry data from Alonso's car in practice for the same corner when Alsono started to experience rear wheel spin - you can see where Alonso lifts off the accelerator momentarily to re-gain traction - if you compare the two graphs, its obvious even to my untrained eye that Piquet was doing something weird with his accelerator pedal
- transcripts of the conversation between Piquet and the pit crew about what lap he was on - he asked several times to verify what lap he was on because he had to crash at a specific corner on a specific lap

All this data is tough to refute - probably why Flav and Pat are gone.

[Mark Hillard]

I'm not convinced by the video. I don't think that Piquet's reaction is so obvious. His statement, however, is absolutely clear.
I think its cheating and Alonso should be stripped of his championship, and Renault should be fined. Formula 1, however might find that hard to do, with the current economic climate, and a number of manufacturers dropping out. Renault may well drop out if they are heavily penalised. Another option would be to ban the individuals involved, and fine the team a smaller amount. Piquet, Alonso and Briatore would all come under the microscope.

[Alex T]

Reviewing the video particularly the last segment or frame, a few questions comes to mind regarding the peculiar look on Piquet’s face.

-Was it a look of guilt because of the allegedly illegal acts that he had just committed?
-Was it a look of contempt for Briatore for allegedly counselling him into committing the infraction?
-Was it a look of concern about what might happen to his career and reputation when the truth inevitable comes out?
-Was he still in shock that he nearly seriously injured himself?

It is quite easy to speculate on the answers to these questions but it would have been helpful had the FIA conducted an in-depth interview of Piquet to aide in our understanding of precisely what happened.

Concerning the upcoming hearing in Paris, I believe that Renault will be assessed a hefty fine, points deductions and the suspension for up to one year from F1. Further, I also believe that Renault will not be expelled from F1 because of Bernie’s desire to not see any further reduction of big names teams from the sport. Both Briatore and Symonds will likely receive suspension of up to lifetime ban from F1.

[David White]

dough....Formula Ford it was....
David