Renault earns 2 yr suspension

PARIS. Renault have been given a two-year suspended ban for their role in fixing last year's Singapore Grand Prix.

The team were called before governing body the FIA to answer charges they had asked driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso win.

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA sanctioned events for an unlimited period.

Renault's ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded from Formula 1 for five years.

Briatore and Symonds parted company with Renault last week at the same time as the French car giant said they would not contest the charges.

The FIA agreed not to pursue action against Piquet for his role in uncovering the details of the scandal. Alonso, who attended the hearing in Paris, was also cleared of any involvement in the race-fixing scheme with the FIA adding it "thanks him for cooperating with enquiries and concludes that Mr Alonso was not in any way involved in Renault F1's breach of the regulations."

However, the World Motor Sport Council hearing found Renault "in breach of the International Sporting Code and Sporting Regulations."

A statement by the FIA added: "The council considers Renault F1's breaches relating to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to be of unparalleled severity. They not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself.”